Alferov, Zhores I. (1930- ), Russian physicist who was cowinner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in physics. Alferov shared half of the Nobel Prize with American physicist Herbert Kroemer for their independent yet parallel improvements to semiconductors during the early 1960s. Their enhanced semiconductor design is widely used in microelectronics. The other half of the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to a scientist whose invention helped launched the ongoing revolution in information and communication technology: American electrical engineer and inventor Jack S. Kilby. In 1958 Kilby designed and constructed the first integrated circuit.

Alferov was born in 1930 in Vitebek, Belarus, in what was then part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). After graduating in 1952 from the V. I. Ulyanov Electrotechnical Institute in Saint Petersburg (now known as the Saint Petersburg State Technical University), he joined the staff of the A. F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, also located in Saint Petersburg. Alferov earned his doctoral degree in physics and mathematics at the institute in 1970, and he became the institute’s director in 1987.

Einstein, Albert (1879-1955), German-born American physicist and Nobel laureate, best known as the creator of the special and general theories of relativity and for his bold hypothesis concerning the particle nature of light. He is perhaps the most well-known scientist of the 20th century.

Albert Einstein is considered one of the greatest and most popular scientists of all time. He is less famous for his social involvement, although he was a staunch supporter of both pacifism and Zionism. As a youth he showed a curiosity about nature and an ability to understand difficult concepts.

Einstein hated the dull regimentation and unimaginative spirit of school in Munich. When repeated business failure led the family to leave Germany for Milan, Italy, Einstein, who was then 15 years old, used the opportunity to withdraw from the school. He spent a year with his parents in Milan, and when it became clear that he would have to make his own way in the world, he finished secondary school in Aarau, Switzerland, and entered the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. Einstein did not enjoy the methods of instruction there. He often cut classes and used the time to study physics on his own or to play his beloved violin. He passed his examinations and graduated in 1900 by studying the notes of a classmate. His professors did not think highly of him and would not recommend him for a university position.