Russian physicist (1898?1974)
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Fock
(or
Fok
;
Russian
:
Влади?мир Алекса?ндрович Фок
) (December 22, 1898 – December 27, 1974) was a
Soviet
physicist, who did foundational work on
quantum mechanics
and
quantum electrodynamics
.
Biography
[
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]
He was born in
St. Petersburg, Russia
. In 1922 he graduated from
Petrograd University
, then continued postgraduate studies there. He became a professor there in 1932. In 1919–1923 and 1928–1941 he collaborated with the
Vavilov State Optical Institute
, in 1924–1936 with the
Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology
, in 1934–1941 and 1944–1953 with the
Lebedev Physical Institute
.
Scientific work
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His primary scientific contribution lies in the development of quantum physics and the theory of gravitation, although he also contributed significantly to the fields of mechanics, theoretical optics, physics of continuous media. In 1926, he derived the
Klein?Gordon equation
. He gave his name to
Fock space
, the
Fock representation
and
Fock state
, and developed the
Hartree?Fock method
in 1930. He made many subsequent scientific contributions during the rest of his life. Fock developed the electromagnetic methods for
geophysical exploration
in a book
The theory of the study of the rocks resistance by the carottage method
(1933), methods called
well logging
in modern literature.
Fock made significant contributions to
general relativity
theory, specifically for the many-body problems. Fock criticised on scientific grounds both Einstein's
general principle of relativity
, as being devoid of physical substance, and the
equivalence principle
, as interpreted as the equivalence of gravitation and acceleration, as having only a local validity.
In Leningrad, Fock created a scientific school in theoretical physics and raised the physics education in the USSR through his books. He wrote the first textbook on quantum mechanics
Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics
(1931, 1978) and a very influential monograph
The Theory of Space, Time and Gravitation
(1955).
Historians of science, such as
Loren Graham
, see Fock as a representative and proponent of Einstein's theory of relativity within the Soviet world. At a time when most Marxist philosophers objected to relativity theory, Fock emphasized a materialistic understanding of relativity that coincided philosophically with Marxism.
He was a full member (
academician
) of the
USSR Academy of Sciences
(1939) and a member of the
International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science
.
See also
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References
[
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]
- Graham, L. (1982). "The reception of Einstein's ideas: Two examples from contrasting political cultures". In Holton, G. and Elkana, Y. (Eds.)
Albert Einstein: Historical and cultural perspectives
. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, pp. 107–136
- Fock, V. A. (1964). "The Theory of Space, Time and Gravitation". Macmillan.
External links
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