Galkin Alexandr Alexandrovich (04.07.1914 – 22.10.1982)

Galkin Alexandr AlexandrovichFounder and Director of the Institute since 1965 to 1982.

A.A. Galkin was born on July 4, 1914 in Berdyansk (Tauric Governorate). In 1939, he graduated from Kharkov State University. Since 1937, he worked at Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology of the AS of USSR (Kharkov). On June 1941, he entered Soviet Army as a volunteer. After the graduation from Artillery courses at F.E. Dzerzhinskii Artillery Academy (Moscow), he did military service at West Front Air Defense. In 1945, after army discharge, he returned to Kharkov and worked as a senior researcher. A.A. Galkin passed his Ph.D. defense in 1947, andhe became a Dr. of Sci. in 1955. Since 1956, he was a Professor.  In 1960–1965, he was a deputy director of Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of the AS of USSR (Kharkov).

А.А. Galkin was a corresponding member of the AS of USSR since 1961, academician of the AS of USSR since 1965. He was the Founder of Don IPE. Since 1965 to the end of his life, A.A. Galkin was the director of Donetsk Institute for Physics and Engineering.

The spectrum of research interests of Alexandr Alexandrovich was immensely wide. Under the guidance and with direct involvement of A.A. Galkin, for the first time, the detecting properties of superconductors were found; the kinetics of destruction of superconductivity in high-frequency fields was studied; the crystallographic anisotropy of the energy gap of a superconductor was found and investigated. He made a great contribution to the progress in technical application of superconductivity and creation of criomagnetic complexes based on superconducting systems. А.А. Galkin was among the first who applied the methods of cyclotron resonance and magnetoacoustics to the study of the electron properties of metals. He discovered Doppleron-phonon resonance in metals, Rashba resonance in semiconductors.  A.A GAlkin was the first who started the application of magnetoacoustics, tunnel spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, antiferromagnetic resonance, nuclear magnetic resonance in the conditions of low temperature and high pressures. These methods were applied to the study of pressure dependences of electron-phonon interaction and interaction of paramagnetic ions.  In 1971, A.A. Galkin was awarded by the State Prize of USSR in Science and Technics for the finding of an intermediate state in antiferromagnetics. His works on the study of a new state of the material induced by strong magnetic field were the first awarded by K.D. Sinelnikov Prize of the AS of USSR.

In the closing stages of his life, the main attention of A.A. Galkin was focused on the development of high pressure physics, especially on the application aspect. The results of his activity formed scientific basis of a new technique of material processing that is hydroexrusion. This method was introduced into industry to provide non-waste formation of the products of complex shape. The technique allowed production of a superconducting multifilament wire composed by tens of millions of cores. To 1978, Donetsk Institute for Physics and Engineering became the leading institution of USSR in this branch of research.

His lifetime project was foundation and management of Donetsk Institute for Physics and Engineering. At the time when the Institute was founded, the structure included 13 research departments.  The area of research activity was related to the most pressing challenges of the solid state physics. Efficient recruitment, strategically correct selection of the main research lines at the stage of foundation provided rapid development and establishment of the largest academic institution in Donetsk region. Within a short time, production of cryogenic liquids was realized. This achievement allowed further development of the institute as a center of low-temperature and super-low temperature research. Complex studies of matter under extreme conditions have become a brand of the institute, including investigations employing low temperatures, high pressures and strong magnetic fields that got a world-wide fame to the institute.

A.A. Galkin was one of the founders and the first Head of Donetsk Scientific Center of AS of USSR.

A.A. Galkin founded the scientific school of high pressure physics and spectroscopy of solids. Upon his initiative, leading scientists of Donetsk Institute for Physics and Engineering started teaching at Faculty of Physics of Donetsk State University in order to train new researchers for the Institute. A.A Galkin was of brilliant educational experience, so he was a professor, Head of Department of Radio Spectroscopy Methods and Low Temperature Physics at the University. More than 50 and 15 students of him passed defense of Ph.D. and Dr. of Sci. degrees, respectively. A.A. Galkin was an author of more than 300 scientific works, 2 monographs and 43 inventions.

Since 1994, Donetsk Institute for Physics and Engineering has been named after A.A. Galkin, the first Director, an academician.

A.A. Galkin was awarded by prestigious distinctions: 2 Orders of the Red Banner of Labour (1971, 1974), the title of Honored Master of Sciences and Engineering of USSR (1978), two State Prizes of USSR in Science and Technics (1971, 1982), K.D. Sinelnikov Prize of the AS of USSR (1975).