Alexander Davydov (physicist)
Soviet Ukrainian physicist (1912–1993)
title: "Alexander Davydov (physicist)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1912-births", "1993-deaths", "people-from-yevpatoria", "people-from-yevpatoriysky-uyezd", "20th-century-ukrainian-physicists", "quantum-biology", "members-of-the-national-academy-of-sciences-of-ukraine", "heroes-of-socialist-labour", "recipients-of-the-order-of-lenin", "burials-at-baikove-cemetery", "soviet-physicists"] description: "Soviet Ukrainian physicist (1912–1993)" topic_path: "science/biology" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Davydov_(physicist)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Soviet Ukrainian physicist (1912–1993) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox scientist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Alexander Sergeevich Davydov |
| image | Alexander S. Davydov.jpg |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Yevpatoria, Russian Empire |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Kiev, Ukraine |
| citizenship | Soviet Union |
| Ukraine | |
| fields | Theoretical Physics |
| Biophysics | |
| workplaces | NASU Institute of Physics |
| Moscow State University | |
| alma_mater | Moscow State University |
| known_for | Davydov splitting |
| Davydov soliton | |
| awards | Hero of Socialist Labour (1982) |
| Order of Lenin (1971, 1982) | |
| Shevchenko National Prize (1969) | |
| Lenin Prize (1966) | |
| Medal "For Labour Valour" (1961) | |
| :: |
|name = Alexander Sergeevich Davydov |image = Alexander S. Davydov.jpg |birth_name = |birth_date = |birth_place = Yevpatoria, Russian Empire |death_date = |death_place = Kiev, Ukraine |citizenship = Soviet Union Ukraine |nationality = |fields = Theoretical Physics Biophysics |workplaces = NASU Institute of Physics Moscow State University |alma_mater = Moscow State University |doctoral_advisor = |notable_students = |known_for = Davydov splitting Davydov soliton |awards = Hero of Socialist Labour (1982) Order of Lenin (1971, 1982) Shevchenko National Prize (1969) Lenin Prize (1966) Medal "For Labour Valour" (1961)
Alexander Sergeevich Davydov (, ) (26 December 1912 – 19 February 1993) was a Soviet and Ukrainian physicist. Davydov graduated from Moscow State University in 1939. In 1963-1990 he was Director of Institute for Theoretical Physics of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.{{cite web | author = International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science (IAQMS) | title = Alexander S. Davydov | url = http://www.iaqms.org/deceased/davydov.php |accessdate=2011-08-15
His main contributions were in theory of absorption, scattering and dispersion of the light in molecular crystals. In 1948, he predicted the phenomenon that is known as Davydov splitting or factor-group splitting, "the splitting of bands in the electronic or vibrational spectra of crystals due to the presence of more than one (interacting) equivalent molecular entity in the unit cell."{{cite book | last1 = McNaught | first1 = Alan D. | last2 = Wilkinson | first2 = Andrew | year = 2019 | chapter = Davydov splitting (factor-group splitting) | title = IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology | publisher = International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry | location = Research Triangle Park, North Carolina | url = https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/D01526 | doi = 10.1351/goldbook.D01526
In 1973, Davydov applied the concept of molecular solitons in order to explain the mechanism of muscle contraction in animals.{{cite journal | author = Davydov AS | title = The theory of contraction of proteins under their excitation | journal = Journal of Theoretical Biology | volume = 38 | pages = 559–569 | year = 1973 | doi = 10.1016/0022-5193(73)90256-7 | pmid = 4266326 | issue = 3 | bibcode = 1973JThBi..38..559D | author = Davydov AS | title = Quantum theory of muscular contraction | journal = Biophysics | volume = 19 | pages = 684–691 | year = 1974 | author = Davydov AS | title = Solitons and energy transfer along protein molecules | journal = Journal of Theoretical Biology | volume = 66 | pages = 379–387 | year = 1977 | doi = 10.1016/0022-5193(77)90178-3 | pmid = 886872 | issue = 2 | bibcode = 1977JThBi..66..379D | last1 = Scott | first1 = Alwyn C. | title = Davydov solitons in polypeptides | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences | volume = 315 | issue = 1533 | pages = 423–436 | year = 1985 | doi = 10.1098/rsta.1985.0049 | bibcode = 1985RSPTA.315..423S | osti = 6443952 | s2cid = 86823456 | url = https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1210664/ | last1 = Brizhik | first1 = Larissa S. | title = Dynamical properties of Davydov solitons | journal = Ukrainian Journal of Physics | volume = 48 | issue = 7 | pages = 611–622 | year = 2003 | url = http://archive.ujp.bitp.kiev.ua/files/journals/48/7/480701p.pdf | last1 = Davydov | first1 = Alexander S. | title = Биология и Квантовая Механика [Biology and Quantum Mechanics] | publisher = Naukova Dumka | year = 1979 | location = Kiev | language = Russian | oclc = 6736440 | last1 = Davydov | first1 = Alexander S. | title = Biology and Quantum Mechanics | publisher = Pergamon Press | year = 1982 | location = Oxford | oclc = 7875407 | isbn = 9780080263922
Biography
Alexander Davydov was born in Yevpatoria in 1912 in a working class family. After graduating from high school in 1930, he moved to Moscow to work as a grinder at an automobile plant. In 1933, he joined the physics department at the Moscow State University, obtaining his diploma in 1939, five years later. He then joined the graduate school, working with Igor Tamm.
During World War II, he worked at an aircraft facility in Ufa. From 1945 to 1953, he worked at the NASU Institute of Physics.
Publications
- Theory of Absorption of Light by Molecular Crystals, Naukova Dumka, Kiev (1951)
- Theory of Atomic Nuclei, Nauka, Moscow (1958)
- Theory of Molecular Excitons, McGraw-Hill, New York (1962)
- Quantum Mechanics, Translated by Dirk ter Haar (Pergamon Press, 1965) and by Irene Verona Schensted (NEO Press, Ann Arbor, 1966)
- Theory of Molecular Excitons, Plenum Press, New York (1971)
- Theory of Solids, Nauka, Moscow (1980)
- Biology and Quantum Mechanics, Pergamon Press (1982)
- Solitons in Molecular Systems, D. Reidel (1985)
- Solitons in Bioenergetics, Naukova Dumka, Kiev (1986)
- The Theoretical Investigation of High-Temperature Superconductivity, Physics Reports, vol. 190, no. 4–5, pp. 191–306 (1990)
- High-Temperature Superconducitvity, Naukova Dumka, Kiev (1990).
References
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