Igor Tamm | |
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Igor Tamm, 1958
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Born | Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm 8 July 1895 Vladivostok, Russian Empire |
Died | 12 April 1971 |
(aged 75)
Nationality | Soviet Union |
Fields | Particle physics |
Institutions | Moscow State University Lebedev Physical Institute |
Alma mater |
Moscow State University Edinburgh University |
Doctoral students |
Vitaly Ginzburg Andrey Sakharov Semen Shubin Evgeny Feinberg Leonid Keldysh Leonid Brekhovskikh Anatoly Vlasov |
Known for |
Tamm states Neutron magnetic moment Cherenkov–Vavilov effect Frank–Tamm formula Tamm–Dancoff approximation Hydrogen bomb Tokamak Phonon |
Notable awards |
1967 Lomonosov Gold Medal 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics |
Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm (Russian: И́горь Евге́ньевич Тамм ; IPA: [ˈiɡərʲ jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvitɕ ˈtam]; 8 July 1895 – 12 April 1971) was a Soviet physicist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Ilya Frank, for their 1934 discovery of Cherenkov radiation.
According to Russian sources, Tamm had German noble descent on his father's side. His grandfather Theodor Tamm emigrated from Thuringia (other sources wrongly describe him as Jewish). He studied at a gymnasium in Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine). In 1913–1914 he studied at the University of Edinburgh together with his school-friend Boris Hessen.
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 he joined the army as a volunteer field medic. In 1917 he joined the Revolutionary movement and became an active anti-War campaigner, serving on revolutionary committees after the March Revolution. He returned to the Moscow State University from which he graduated in 1918.
Tamm married Nataliya Shuyskaya in September 1917. They eventually had two children, Irina (1921–2009, chemist) and Evgeny (1926–2008, experimental physicist and famous mountain climber, leader of the Soviet Everest expedition in 1982).