Ilґja M. Frank
Biography
Il'ja Mikhailovich Frank was born in Leningrad on October 23, 1908,
the younger son of Mikhail Lyudvigovic Frank, a Professor of Mathematics,
and his wife, Dr. Yelizaveta Mikhailovna Gratsianova. He attended the
Moscow State University as a pupil of Vavilov, and graduated in 1930.
In 1931 he became a senior scientific officer in Professor A.N. Terenin's
laboratory in the State Optical Institute in Leningrad, and in 1934 he
joined the P.N. Lebedev Institute of Physics of the U.S.S.R. Academy of
Sciences as a scientific officer. He was promoted firstly to senior scientific
officer and, in 1941, to his present position as officer in charge of
the Atomic Nucleus Laboratory. Since 1957 he has simultaneously occupied
the post of Director of the Neutron Laboratory of the Joint Institute
of Nuclear Investigations.
The first investigations of I.M. Frank were in the field of
photoluminescence and in photochemistry. From 1934 he began his
work on nuclear physics in the Laboratory of Professor D.V.
Skobeltzyn. The experimental investigations of pair creation by
g-rays and other problems connected
with the measurements and application of g-rays were carried out by him. His further works
were devoted to neutron physics, the investigation of reactions
on light nuclei and nuclear fission by mesons.
The subject of his theoretical investigations is the
Vavilov-Cerenkov effect and related problems.
Frank was awarded the degree of Doctor of Physico-Mathematical
Sciences in 1935; in 1944 he was confirmed in the academic rank
of Professor, and was elected a Corresponding Member of the
U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences in 1946.
He married Ella Abramovna Beilikhis, a noted historian, in 1937.
They have one son, Alexander.
From Nobel Lectures, Physics 1942-1962, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1964
This autobiography/biography was first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Il'ja M. Frank died on June 22, 1990.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1958