Ilya Frank

Ilya Mikhailovich Frank
Born	23 October 1908(1908-10-23)
Died	22 June 1990 (aged 81)
Fields	Nuclear physics
Institutions	Moscow State University
Alma mater	Moscow State University
Known for	Čerenkov radiation
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Physics (1958)

Ilya Mikhailovich Frank (Russian: Илья́ Миха́йлович Франк) (23 October 1908 – 22 June 1990) was a Soviet winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1958 jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Igor Y. Tamm, also of the Soviet Union. He received the award for his work in explaining the phenomenon of Cherenkov radiation.

Frank graduated from the Moscow State University in 1930. In 1934 Cherenkov discovered that light is emitted by charged particles traveling at very high speeds through water. Frank and Tamm provided the theoretical explanation of this effect, which occurs when the particles travel through an optically transparent medium at speeds greater than the speed of light in that medium. This discovery resulted in the development of new methods for detecting and measuring the velocity of high-speed nuclear particles and became of great importance for research in nuclear physics. Cherenkov radiation is also widely used in biomedical research for detection of radioactive isotopes.

Frank's work also included collaboration with Cherenkov and Tamm in research on electron radiation. Frank also specialized in the study of gamma rays and neutron beams. He became head of the department of physics at the Moscow State University in 1944 and was made a member of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. in 1946. Frank was a son of Russian mathematician Mikhail Frank and a nephew of noted Christian philosopher Semen Frank.

External links

• Ilya Mikhaylovich Frank – Source and photo

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