Sergey Kapitsa
Sergey Kapitsa | |
---|---|
Russian Federation | |
Citizenship | Soviet, Russian, British[citation needed] |
Alma mater | Moscow Aviation Institute |
Known for | TV science magazine host since 1973 |
Awards | UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science, 1979 and USSR State Prize, 1980 |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics, demography |
Institutions | Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, RAS and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology |
Sergey Petrovich Kapitsa (
Life and career
Kapitsa was born in
In 1935 his family returned to the USSR. Kapitsa graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1949. He was Senior Research Fellow at the Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences and Professor at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
Kapitsa's contributions to physics were in the areas of applied electrodynamics and accelerator physics; he is known, in particular, for his work on the
His activities in science popularization included hosting the Russian Television program, Evident, but Incredible, starting in 1973, for which he was awarded
Kapitsa was a pioneer of scuba diving in the Soviet Union, he shot the first underwater film about the Sea of Japan, which was shown at international film festivals, in particular in Cannes, where it was second only to the film by Jacques Cousteau.[9]
Kapitsa was the vice president of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and president of the Eurasian Physical Society, and was a strong proponent of restoring support for science in Russia.[10]
In 1992 the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) presented Kapitsa with the Public Education in Science Award.[11]
On 14 August 2012, Kapitsa died at the age of 84 in Moscow. He is remembered for his role in the popularisation of science and, after forty years of hosting Evident, but Incredible, holding the record for being the longest serving host of a TV programme.[9]
Views
In 2008 Kapitsa signed an open letter in defense of Svetlana Bakhmina.[12]
During the late years Kapitsa was very critical of the state of the popular science and Russian television in general. In one of the last interviews he told about the closing of his TV program: "Channel One ordered me, first, to trash Soviet science, and, second, not to object against pseudoscience. I refused categorically. Then I was thrown out... They were cynical... The results of their political setups could be felt today: intellectual defeat of Russia, I can't find another word for their activity... TEFI would've never turned into a one-class dictatorship before. I didn't receive a single TEFI. Only in the past 2008, when Vladimir Posner had left, I was awarded one for "personal contribution to the development of Russian television"."[13][verification needed]
Memorialization
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%87%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B5.jpg/220px-%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%87%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B5.jpg)
On 5 March 2014 the President of the Russian Federation signed a decree "On memorialization of S. P. Kapitsa".
On February 12, 2015 the Publishing and Trading Centre Marka issued a commemorative postage stamp and a postmark with image of Sergei Kapitsa.[15][16]
Family
- Father – Pyotr Kapitsa, a leading Soviet physicist and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate, discoverer of superfluidity
- Mother – Anna Alekseevna Kapitsa (née Krylova)
- Maternal grandfather – insubmersibilitytechnique
- Younger brother – Andrey Kapitsa, geographer, credited with the discovery and naming of Lake Vostok, the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica, which lies 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) below the continent's ice cap[17]
- Wife – Tatiana Alimovna Damir (since 1949)[18]
- Son – Fyodor Kapitsa (ru) (1950–2017), Russian philologist, folklorist and writer
- Daughter – Maria (1954), psychologist at the Moscow State University
- Daughter – Varvara (1960), a doctor[19]
Further reading
- Paradoxes Of Growth: Laws Of Global Development Of Humanity. Sergei Kapitsa. (Glagoslav Publications, 2017) ISBN 978-1782671213
Notes
- ^ "Russian Archives Online – Interview transcript – Sergei Kaptisa". The Russian–American Center. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- ^ a b Andrei Vandenko. The witness interview from the Itogy magazine №7 / 609, 12 February 2008 (in Russian)
- ^ Kapitza, S. P.; Melekhin, V. N. (1978), The microtron (translated from the Russian by I. N. Sviatoslavsky; English edition by Ednor M. Rowe), Harwood Academic Publishers
- ^ "Kalinga Prize Laureates". United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- ^ "U.S., Soviet scientists say nuclear war likely to doom life on earth", Miami Herald, December 9, 1983
- ^ Strout, Richard L. (December 14, 1983), "Limited nuclear war would have profound effects, experts say", Christian Science Monitor
- ^ Hendrix, Kathleen (September 15, 1985), "Beyond War: Movement takes disarming approach to world tensions", Los Angeles Times
- ^ "Advisory Council – Who we are". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- ^ a b c Prominent Russian scientist Sergey Kapitsa dies at 84
- ^ "TEDx Perm". TED Conferences LLC. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- ^ "CSICOP's 1992 Awards". Skeptical Inquirer. 17 (3): 236. 1993.
- ^ In defense of Svetlana Bakhmina open letter at Novaya Gazeta № 81, 30 October 2008 (in Russian)
- ISBN 978-5926507413
- ^ 5094 Seryozha at IAU Minor Planet Center
- ^ "Catalogue". rusmarka.ru.
- ^ "Sergei P. Kapitsa (1928–2012), Physicist, Winner of the State Prize. Moscow". rusmarka.ru.
- ^ "Andrey Kapitsa dies in Moscow". Russian Geographical Society. 2011-08-03. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
- ^ Greenemeier, Larry. "Sergei Petrovich Kapitza". Scientific American.
- ^ Dmitry Gordon. Interview at Gordon's Boulevard № 19 (263), 11 May 2010 (in Russian)
External links
Media related to Sergei Kapitsa at Wikimedia Commons
- Sergey Kapitsa at IMDb
- Sergey Kapitsa at Find a Grave