Pjotr Kapitsa

Pjotr Kapitsa was born in Kronstadt, Russia, on the 9th July 1894. After completing his studies in 1918 at the Electromechanics Department of the Petrograd Polytechnical Institute, Kapitsa began his scientific career at that institute. He proposed a method for determining the magnetic moment of an atom interacting with an inhomogeneous magnetic field. This method was later widely used in magnetic physics.

In 1921 Kapitsa came to the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, to work with Rutherford, researching in nuclear physics. After a few years in Cambridge, Kapitsa turned to low-temperature research. He began with a critical analysis of the traditional methods for obtaining low temperatures and developed a new and original apparatus for the liquefaction of helium in 1934. Kapitsa began a series of experiments to study the properties of liquid helium that led to the discovery of the superfluidity of helium in 1937. In 1939 he developed a new method for liquefaction of air with a low-pressure cycle using a special high-efficiency expansion turbine. He then wrote a series of papers investigating this new state of matter. Late in the 1940's he began working on physical problems for low-temperature physics. He also invented high-power microwave generators and discovered a new kind of continuous high-pressure plasma discharge with electron temperatures over a million K. Thus, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1978, "for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics".

Kapitsa was a Clerk Maxwell Student at the University of Cambridge (1923-1926), Assistant Director of Magnetic Research at the Cavendish Laboratory (1924-1932), Messel Research Professor of the Royal Society (1930-1934), and Director of the Royal Society Mond Laboratory (1930-1934). Kapitsa was one of the founders of the Moscow Physico-Technical Institute (MFTI). He was also an honourary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He married Anna Krylova in 1927. They had two sons. He died in 1984.