Chronicle

Awarding of the Stalin Prizes

By a decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR of January 26 of this year, Stalin Prizes were awarded to a considerable number of scientists, engineers and inventors, and figures in art and literature. Among the laureates are a number of physicists, namely: first prizes in the physical and mathematical sciences were awarded to the following physicists: S. I. Vavilov, I. E. Tamm, I. M. Frank, and P. A. Cherenkov—for the discovery and study of the radiation of electrons moving at a velocity greater than the phase velocity of light in the given medium; V. A. Fock—for investigations on the theory of radio-wave propagation. Second prizes: E. F. Gross—for work on molecular scattering in liquids; L. D. Landau—for work on the theory of phase transformations, in particular for work giving an explanation of the phenomena discovered and investigated by P. L. Kapitsa concerning the properties of liquid helium; K. A. Petrzhak and G. N. Flerov—for the discovery of the spontaneous fission of uranium.

A number of physicists working in fields bordering between physics and chemistry (photochemistry, chemical kinetics) were awarded prizes in the section of chemical sciences, namely: A. N. Terenin was awarded a first prize for work on photochemistry of aromatic compounds; V. N. Kondrat’ev (second prize)—for work on the spectroscopic study of gaseous chemical reactions; A. I. Brodskii (second prize)—for work on the application of isotopes to the study of the mechanism of chemical processes and on thermodiffusion.

Prizes in the section of inventions and improvement of methods of production work were awarded to: V. P. Linnik—for the invention of new interference instruments; D. D. Maksutov—for the creation of new types of anaberrational optical systems; M. L. Veingerov—for the invention of an optico-acoustic method of express gas analysis; A. S. Zaimovskii (in collaboration with B. G. Lifshits and K. M. Naidenkin)—for the development of new alloys for constant magnets; A. I. Tudorovskii, D. S. Volosov, G. G. Slyusarev, E. N. Tsarevskii, and E. G. Yakhontov—for the development of the design and calculation of new aerial photographic objectives.

Session of the Physical and Mathematical Department of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR

The session of the Physical and Mathematical Department of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR took place in Moscow on February 20 and 21. The following reports were heard:

1. V. A. Fock. Approximate solution of the problem of diffraction by a conducting body of arbitrary shape.

1. I. M. Lifshitz and I. V. Obreimov. Some considerations on the mechanical twinning of calcite.
2. Ya. I. Frenkel. On the relativistic quantum mechanics of composite particles.
3. D. V. Skobeltsyn. The work of the Pamir expedition of the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute.
4. A. I. Alikhanyan. Preliminary results of the high-altitude expedition for the study of cosmic rays on Mount Alagez in 1945.
5. A. P. Zhdanov. Anomalous disintegrations of nuclei by cosmic rays.
6. B. S. Dzhelepov. The β-spectrum of potassium (40).
7. M. G. Meshcheryakov. Helium with mass 3 and helium with mass 5.
8. V. P. Linnik. A possible scheme for an interference zenith telescope.
9. V. G. Fesenkov. The structure of dusty matter in the Solar System.

THE SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF NIELS BOHR

On October 7, 1945, Niels Bohr turned 60. On this occasion the journal Reviews of Modern Physics issued a double number (vol. 17, Nos. 2–3, 1945) devoted to N. Bohr. The issue contains 26 articles by a number of outstanding physicists, including A. Einstein, W. Pauli, P. Dirac, J. Franck, M. Born, Lise Meitner, G. Källén, and others. In the foreword, written by W. Pauli, N. Bohr’s outstanding services to the development of modern physics are noted, not only thanks to his works, but also thanks to his personal influence on the large and ever-growing number of physicists who come into contact with him.