Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
England, during a thaw in British-Soviet rela-
tions to study with Ernest Rutherford, the direc-
tor of magnetic research at the Cavendish
Laboratory in Cambridge. After earning a Ph.D.
in physics from Cambridge in 1923, Kapitsa
became deputy director of the Cavendish labora-
tory. In 1929 he was elected a fellow of the Royal
Society, the first foreigner in over 200 years to
obtain that honor. Kapitsa stayed in England
until 1934, when he returned to the Soviet
Union for a holiday. Stalin prohibited him from
returning to Cambridge, and after a brief stand-
off, Kapitsa agreed to stay in the Soviet Union.
His Cambridge laboratory was transported back
to Moscow, where it served as the basis for the
newly founded Institute for Physical Problems,
which Kapitsa headed from 1936 to 1946. In
1939, Kapitsa was chosen a member of the Soviet
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ; in 1941 and again in 1943,
he received the Stalin prize for physics.
Kapitsa's refusal to work on the Soviet atomic
weapons program led to house arrest from 1946
to 1953. He was allowed to continue his work,
and after Stalin's death in 1953 he was restored
to his position as director of the Institute for
Physical Problems. While in England in the
1920s, Kapitsa had built upon Rutherford's
research on producing magnetic fields, before
turning to the effect that magnetic fields have on
metals. He became intrigued by the impact of
very low temperatures on the magnetic proper-
ties of metals. He published his first findings on
the superfluidity of helium II. Kapitsa found that
at extremely low temperatures helium becomes
a better conductor than copper. Kapitsa also
designed improved plants for the liquefaction of
hydrogen and helium. The Nobel Prize he
received in 1978 was based on this lifetime work
on low-temperature physics.
gained attention with the publication of his Let-
ters of a Russian Traveler, 1789-90, published in
1792. An important milestone in the develop-
ment of Russian literature, the Letters discussed
Karamzin's travels in western Europe, where he
had been well received in literary circles. The
Letters introduced Russian readers to a more cos-
mopolitan world and to a more polished literary
language that avoided Old Church Slavonic
influences in favor of colloquial Russian. Mod-
eled on Sterne's Sentimental Journey, they also
contributed to the development of sentimental
literature in Russia. Another important work of
Karamzin's was the fictional story “Poor Liza,”
which is generally seen as an early contribution
to the Russian literature of social protest that
flourished in the 19th century. Through two
major works, Karamzin also contributed to the
development of Russian historiography. In the
Memoir of Ancient Russia (1811), he criticized Rus-
sia's 18th-century rulers while arguing for a
strong monarchic state. Well received by the
public and by Emperor ALEXANDER I , Karamzin
was appointed court historian on the basis of this
work. In 1818 he began a multivolume History of
the Russian State, a massive endeavor that was
very popular with the Russian reading public. At
the time of his death, after 11 volumes, Karamzin
had reached only the early 17th century. In ret-
rospect, Karamzin's work, especially the History of
the Russian State, stands the test of time less for its
scholarly achievements than for its influence on
Russian literature.
Karpov, Anatolii Yevgenievich
(1951- )
chess player
The world chess champion from 1975 to 1985,
Karpov has been a Soviet master since the age of
15, the youngest Soviet player to have achieved
such an honor. Born in Zlatoust, a town in the
Urals, Karpov learned to play chess at the age of
six. At 13, he began to receive lessons from the
great player and former world champion
Mikhail BOTVINNIK . Two years later he became a
Soviet master. Karpov's first international vic-
Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich
(1766-1826)
writer
The author of influential works of history and
poetry, Karamzin was an important figure in
Russia's cultural development. Karamzin first
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