Three Share Physics Nobel

 

STOCKHOLM, Sweden,     Oct. 7, 2003

Alexei A. Abrikosov, Vitaly L. Ginzburg and Anthony J. Leggett won the 2003 Nobel Prize in physics.

  The trio was awarded the prize for their work in quantum physics concerning superconductivity and superfluidity. Superconductivity allows certain materials at very low temperatures to conduct electricity without resistance. Superconducting material is used, as an example, in magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, and can give deeper insight into the ways in which matter behaves in its lowest and most ordered state, the Academy said in its citation.

The award came a day after Paul C. Lauterbur of the University of Illinois and Sir Peter Mansfield from Britain were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for their work in developing MRI. Gunnar Oequist, Secretary-General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, called it a coincidence that the physics prize was similar to the medicine prize. "Certainly the MRI camera is a major application of it and I think it's an interesting coincidence that the medical prize goes to an application whereas our prize goes to the discoveries that made application development possible," he told The Associated Press.

Abrikosov, 75, a Russian and American citizen; Ginzburg, 87, a Russian; and Leggett, 65, a British and American citizen, worked to improve knowledge of superconductivity and superfluidity.  These days Abrikosov works in the Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois. Ginzburg, was the former head of the theory group at the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow. Leggett is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the United States.

The prize includes a check for 10 million kronas, or $1.3 million.

Alfred Nobel, the wealthy Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who endowed the prizes, left only vague guidelines for the selection committee. In his will he said the prize revealed Tuesday should be given to those who "shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" and "shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics." The Academy, which also chooses the chemistry and economics winners, invited nominators of the previous year and experts in the fields before cutting down its choices.

A Japanese and two American astrophysicists won last year's prize for using some of the most obscure particles and waves in nature to increase understanding of the universe.

Riccardo Giacconi, 71, of the Associated Universities Inc. in Washington, D.C., was cited for his role in "pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources." Raymond Davis Jr., 87, of the University of Pennsylvania and Japanese scientist Masatoshi Koshiba, 76, of the University of Tokyo, were awarded for their construction of giant underground chambers to detect neutrinos, elusive particles that stream from the sun by the billion.

The prizes, which include a gold medal and a diploma, are presented on December 10 the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

NOTE: obscure – тусклый, неясный, непонятный, elusive – неуловимый, эфемерный, to confer a degree – присуждать ученую степень, to bestow honours – воздавать почести, endow – завещать

 

2. In the text find equivalents to the phrases:

- при очень низкой температуре;

- сверхпроводящее вещество;

- магнитно-резонансное изображение;

- исследовательский вклад в астрофизику;

- открытие источников космических рентгеновских лучей;

- подземные камеры для обнаружения нейтрино;

- нечеткие указания;

-    пропускать электрический ток без сопротивления;

- заглянуть глубже;

- упорядоченное  состояние

VOCABULARY STUDY

3. Translate the following words and expressions into the Russian language:

fluid, fluidity, superfluidity, superfluid material;

pioneer, pioneering, pioneering contribution;

integer, integral, integrate, integration, integrity, integrator;

circle, circular, circular motion, circulation of the current;

  destroy, destroyer, destruction, destructive, destructive magnetic field;

  alternate, alternative, alternating, alternating current

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