Valery Timofeevich Dolgopolov, a world-recognized physicist, Doctor of Sciences (phys.-math), Professor, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, passed away on January 17, 2022, at the age of 79, after a severe disease. In physics, Dolgopolov is mainly known for his works on electron transport in low-dimensional systems. In 1972, Dolgopolov was awarded the Soviet Academy young scientists’ medal for the discovery of a new type of electromagnetic sound excitation. In 1994, V.T. Dolgopolov was elected a Professor of the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation, and in 2001 he was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt research professorship. In recognition of his scientific achievements, V.T. Dolgopolov was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2019.

V.T. Dolgopolov was born on 17/08/1943 in Smolensk region of Russia. In 1966 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). V.T. Dolgopolov performed his diploma research at the Institute of Physical Problems (currently, P.L. Kapitza Institute) under the supervision of the famous physicist V.F. Gantmakher.

In 1966, V.T. Dolgopolov joined the Institute of Solid State Physics (ISSP) in Chernogolovka as one of the first young scientists of the just-founded Institute. In 1971, he completed his Ph.D. thesis on the electron-phonon interaction in normal metals. After that, V.T. Dolgopolov got concentrated on the nonlinear physics in normal metals and superconductors. This activity led to the discovery of a dc magnetic flux pumping into superconducting and normal metals by an external low-frequency electromagnetic field. In 1980, he obtained a Doctor of Sciences degree, and in 1988 became a leading researcher at ISSP.

In the mid-eighties, the scientific interests of V.T. Dolgopolov shifted to the physics of low-dimensional electron systems and the Quantum Hall Effect. In 1989, he founded a laboratory of quantum transport in solids at ISSP. The laboratory was headed by V.T. Dolgopolov until 2012. In this period, a many fundamental physical results were obtained in the laboratory, e.g., the experimental realization of Laughlin’s gedanken experiment, which demonstrated the quantization of the Hall conductivity in the quantum Hall effect regime, and evidence of the interaction-driven metal-insulator transition in two dimensions and critical behavior of two-dimensional electron systems as a manifestation of the electron interaction effects. He also fruitfully collaborated with his scientific teacher V.F. Gantmakher in the field of quantum phase transitions and superconductor-insulator transition.

V.T. Dolgopolov was known as an excellent teacher for junior scientists. He was a successful Ph.D. adviser for nine young scientists, and four of them now have a Doctor of Sciences degree. Since 1972, he did active teaching at MIPT, including the self-prepared entire course of lectures in general physics. In 1989 – 2001, Professor V.T. Dolgopolov was a deputy of the joint Chair for “Solid State Physics” at MIPT and ISSP, where he was still an active member until 2014. He prepared several new lecture courses, the most famous course describing the modern theoretical approaches to the problem of electron-electron interactions for experimentalists.

For several years, he was a co-editor and a member of the editorial board in Europhysics Letters and Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics. V.T. Dolgopolov collaborated very fruitfully with JETP Letters. As one of the most active authors, he published 68 papers in this journal. From 2012 to 2019, V.T. Dolgopolov was the Editor-in-Chief of JETP Letters.

His death is a great loss for his friends, colleagues, and entire Russian science. The students and colleagues will never forget Valery Timofeevich - an outstanding personality and a devoted scientist.

 

JETPL Editorial Board and staff members
V.I. Al'shits, K.V. Chukbar, E.V. Deviatov, P.V. Dolganov, A.S. Ioselevich, S.P. Kulik, Yu.G. Makhlin, K.E. Nagaev, A.V. Nefed'ev, V.P. Pastukhov, I.V. Polyubin, V.M. Pudalov, A.L. Rakhmanov, A.A. Starobinskii, G.E. Volovik, I.V. Podyniglazova, E.A.Mitchenko, S.V.Atlaskirova