born March 15, 1930, Vitebsk, Belorussia, U.S.S.R.
Soviet physicist.
He received a Ph.D. from the A.F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in 1970 and became director of the institute in 1987. With a research team, he developed the first practical heterostructure electronic device in 1966 and went on to pioneer electronic components made from heterostructures, including the first heterostructure laser. His work led to great advances in communications technology. In 2000 he shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Herbert Kroemer and Jack S. Kilby .