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Portrait of Alexei Abrikosov
Photo: AA_Abrikosov_and_VL_Ginzburg_ANL.jpg: ANL.gov derivative work: Materialscientist, This file was derived from: AA Abrikosov and VL Ginzburg ANL.jpg: · Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Nobel Prize in Physics · 2003

Alexei Abrikosov

He showed how magnetic fields thread through superconductors in tiny whirlpools, the physics that explains today's MRI magnets.

The Nobel citation: “for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids”
Born
June 25, 1928, Moscow, USSR (now Russia)
Died
March 29, 2017
Shared with
Vitaly L. Ginzburg, Anthony J. Leggett
Affiliation at the time
Argonne National Laboratory, USA

Physics prize

2003

Shared with 2 other laureates.

Age that year

75years

Born in 1928.

Sources cited

21

Fact-checked September 24, 2026.

  • He worked out his vortex lattice in 1953 but held it back for four years because his teacher, Lev Landau, disagreed. It appeared only in 1957.
  • Experimenters doubted his vortex lattice for about ten years, until neutron and decoration experiments in the 1960s showed it directly.
  • His father, the pathologist Alexei Ivanovich Abrikosov, led the autopsy of Lenin in January 1924.
  • He passed Landau's famously hard 'theoretical minimum' exam in 1947, at the age of 19.
  • He moved to Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago in 1991, became a US citizen in 1999 and won the Nobel Prize at 75.

The breakthrough

Type II superconductors and the Abrikosov vortex lattice

Some materials, cooled close to absolute zero, carry electric current with no resistance at all. The first known superconductors had a weakness: they pushed magnetic fields out, and a strong enough field destroyed their superconductivity. That made them useless for powerful magnets. In the early 1950s Abrikosov's friend Nikolay Zavaritskii, an experimenter, measured thin films that did not fit the leading theory, written by Vitaly Ginzburg and Lev Landau. Rather than throw the theory out, Abrikosov studied a case its authors had set aside. He found a second kind of superconductor, now called type II. He then asked what happens when such a material sits in a magnetic field. His answer was surprising. Between two critical field strengths, the field gets in, but only along thin threads. Each thread carries a fixed, tiny amount of magnetic flux and is ringed by circulating current, like the whirlpool that forms when you drain a bathtub. The threads line up in a regular pattern, now called the Abrikosov vortex lattice, and the material around them stays superconducting. His predicted magnetization curves matched measurements made on alloys in 1937 by Lev Shubnikov's group. Most superconducting alloys and compounds, including every high-temperature superconductor found since 1986, are type II.[2],[4],[5],[6]

“I would like to pay here a tribute to Shubnikov, whose data gave me real inspiration.”
Alexei Abrikosov, From his Nobel lecture of 8 December 2003, honoring the experimenter Lev Shubnikov, whose 1937 measurements on alloys matched his theory and who was shot in Stalin's purges that same year.[6]

What it meant for humanity

A superconductor is only useful for a strong magnet if it keeps working inside a strong magnetic field, and only type II superconductors do. The Nobel Foundation's popular summary notes that the strong superconducting magnets in today's MRI scanners are all type II. Most of those scanners use niobium-titanium wire, an alloy found in 1962 to carry large currents in high fields, and MRI systems made up about 80% of the value of the superconductivity market in 2014. The same kind of wire steers particle beams in CERN's Large Hadron Collider, whose 1,232 main dipole magnets reach 8.3 tesla. With ordinary magnets, CERN says, the 27-kilometre ring would have had to be about 120 kilometres long.

The order of events matters. Abrikosov published first, in 1957, but he recalled that the paper drew little attention until high-field alloys were discovered by experiment in the early 1960s. What his theory gave engineers was understanding. The Nobel Foundation says his description is still used to develop and analyze new superconductors and magnets, and a Royal Society memoir calls it the framework for the high-field magnets used in MRI, magnetically levitating trains and the LHC. He also shaped how physicists are trained. The 1961 textbook he wrote with Lev Gor'kov and Igor Dzyaloshinskii was translated into English, German, Chinese and Japanese, and he wrote that it was still the main textbook on its subject in 2003.

  • The Nobel Foundation notes that the strong superconducting magnets used in MRI scanners are all type II, the class of material Abrikosov's theory describes.[4],[21]
  • Niobium-titanium, the type II alloy used in most MRI magnets, was found in 1962 to carry large currents in strong fields. MRI systems made up about 80% of the superconductivity market's value in 2014.[18],[19]
  • CERN's Large Hadron Collider uses 1,232 superconducting main dipole magnets of 8.3 tesla. With ordinary magnets the 27 km ring would have needed to be about 120 km long.[18],[20]
  • The Nobel Foundation says his vortex description is still used in developing and analyzing new superconductors and magnets, and that all high-temperature superconductors are type II.[4]
  • His 1961 textbook with Gor'kov and Dzyaloshinskii on quantum field theory methods in statistical physics was translated into four languages and has been used to teach theorists for decades.[2],[13],[21]

Impact in numbers

We record no numbers for Abrikosov. His theory explains how type II superconductors behave in strong magnetic fields, and superconducting MRI and accelerator magnets are built from such materials. But the high-field alloys were found by experiment in 1961-62, before his 1957 paper had drawn much attention, as he himself recalled. Crediting him with a share of MRI scans or magnet sales would be guesswork, and it would clash with our profiles of Lev Landau and Leon Cooper, which make no MRI claim for the theories of superconductivity. What can be said plainly: his vortex picture is the working language of anyone who designs or tests superconducting wire, magnets and new superconductors. A Royal Society memoir says the vortex lattice also foreshadowed later ideas about two-dimensional magnetism and topological materials. His 1961 textbook trained generations of theorists. We found no documented harm to count.

Fundamental scienceHealthTechnology

No number is given here on purpose. Some contributions cannot be counted honestly, and we would rather describe them than invent a figure.

The double edge

We found no documented harm from his theory. The controversies around him were about words and loyalties. After the Nobel Prize he skipped a meeting with President Putin, said he had suffered enough in Russia and was proud the prize counted for America, and he was openly at odds with his co-laureate Vitaly Ginzburg over how Russian science should be funded and run. One Russian academician later recalled that Abrikosov's last speech to the Academy's general meeting showed strong dislike of the Russian people. We found no record of what he actually said.

  • Minor

    Public break with post-Soviet Russia

    After the 2003 prize he did not attend a meeting with President Putin and told Radio Liberty that he had suffered enough in Russia and was proud the prize counted for America. Lenta.ru reports that he and Ginzburg barely spoke at the Nobel dinner because they disagreed over the funding and management of Russian science.[11]

  • Minor

    Disputed farewell remarks

    An obituary reprinted by the Russian Academy of Sciences cites academician Georgy Zavarzin's recollection that in his last speech to the Academy's general meeting Abrikosov voiced strong dislike of the Russian people. This is a single second-hand account, and we found no text of the speech.[13]

Against the odds

Abrikosov was born in Moscow in 1928 to a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father, both physicians. He finished university in 1948, shortly before Stalin's campaign against 'rootless cosmopolitans' began in early 1949. More than 70% of the people named in the press attacks of February and March 1949 were Jews, and many of the accused lost their posts. Boris Ioffe, a fellow student of Landau, recalled being the only Jewish physics graduate of Moscow University in 1949 to get a job in Moscow; others were sent far away or found no work. In January 1953 the Soviet press announced a plot by 'doctor-wreckers', and many prominent Jewish doctors were arrested and interrogated under torture. His mother had headed pathology at the Kremlin medical service from the mid-1930s, though we could not confirm she still held the post in 1953; we found no record that she was accused. We also found no record that Abrikosov himself was targeted for being Jewish. His troubles came from the Soviet system. His vortex theory built on alloy data from Lev Shubnikov, who was shot in 1937. One Russian-language account says that after he married a French citizen in Paris in 1969 he lost his job for a time and could travel mainly to socialist countries. In 1991, fearing economic collapse and a coup that might close the borders again, he left for the United States.

  • 1949

    Discrimination

    He graduated in 1948, on the eve of the campaign against 'rootless cosmopolitans', in which more than 70% of those named in the press in early 1949 were Jews. A fellow Landau student recalled being the only Jewish physics graduate in his year to get a Moscow job.[15],[16]

  • 1953

    Persecution

    The Doctors' Plot of 1953 targeted Kremlin physicians, many of them Jewish, with arrests and torture. His Jewish mother had headed pathology at the Kremlin medical service from the mid-1930s; we could not confirm she still worked there in 1953, and found no record that she or his father was accused.[9],[17]

  • 1969

    Dismissal

    A Russian-language account says that after he married a French citizen in Paris in 1969 he was dismissed for a time and afterwards allowed to travel mainly to socialist countries. His own biography shows him leaving Moscow State University in 1969 and teaching in Gorky from 1970 to 1972.[2],[9]

  • 1991

    Other

    He left for the United States in 1991. He later said he expected Russia's collapsing economy to hit fundamental science first and feared a coup that might close the borders again.[2],[11]

Jewish background

Jewish motherRelationship to Jewish identity not documented

His mother, the physician Fanny Davidovna Wulf (1895-1965), was Jewish. His father, the pathologist Alexei Ivanovich Abrikosov, was not Jewish; he was a grandson of the founder of the Abrikosov confectionery business in Moscow. Jinfo.org, which documents Jewish Nobel laureates, bases the mother's Jewish background on the Encyclopedia of Russian Jewry and on an interview Abrikosov gave for the book Candid Science V (2005). We found no public statement by Abrikosov about Jewish identity or religious practice, so we record his relationship to it as unknown.[7],[8],[10]

Key dates

  1. June 25, 1928

    Born in Moscow to two physicians: the pathologist Alexei Ivanovich Abrikosov and Fanny Davidovna Wulf, who was Jewish.[1],[2],[7],[10]

  2. 1945

    Transfers from the Institute for Power Engineers to the physics department of Moscow State University.[2]

  3. 1947

    Passes Lev Landau's 'theoretical minimum' exams at 19, joining Landau's school of theorists.[11],[15]

  4. 1951

    Earns his candidate of science (PhD) degree under Landau at the Institute for Physical Problems and joins its staff.[2]

  5. 1952

    With data from Nikolay Zavaritskii, identifies a second group of superconductors, now called type II, in a paper in Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR.[2],[6],[12]

  6. 1957

    Publishes the vortex lattice theory of type II superconductors, derived in 1953 but delayed because Landau at first disagreed.[2],[6]

  7. 1961

    Publishes Quantum Field Theory Methods in Statistical Physics with Lev Gor'kov and Igor Dzyaloshinskii, a lasting standard textbook.[2]

  8. 1966

    Awarded the Lenin Prize with Ginzburg and Gor'kov for the theory of superconductivity in strong magnetic fields.[2]

  9. 1967

    Ulrich Essmann and Hermann Träuble image the vortex lattice by decoration, following neutron evidence in 1964; doubters are convinced.[6]

  10. 1969

    Marries a French citizen in Paris; one Russian-language account says he then lost his job for a time and faced travel limits.[9]

  11. 1991

    Leaves the collapsing Soviet Union for Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, as a Distinguished Argonne Scientist.[2],[11]

  12. 1999

    Becomes a naturalized US citizen.[2],[12]

  13. 2003

    Shares the Nobel Prize in Physics with Vitaly Ginzburg and Anthony Leggett for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids.[1],[3]

  14. March 29, 2017

    Dies in California at 88.[2],[12],[14]

Sources

  1. 1.Alexei Abrikosov - Facts · NobelPrize.org (Nobel Prize Outreach)
  2. 2.Alexei Abrikosov - Biographical (autobiography from Les Prix Nobel 2003) · NobelPrize.org (Nobel Foundation), 2004
  3. 3.Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2003 · NobelPrize.org (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences), 2003
  4. 4.Popular information: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2003 (superconductivity and superfluidity) · NobelPrize.org (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences), 2003
  5. 5.Award ceremony speech, Nobel Prize in Physics 2003, by Professor Mats Jonson · NobelPrize.org, 2003
  6. 6.Type II Superconductors and the Vortex Lattice (Nobel Lecture, 8 December 2003), by Alexei A. Abrikosov · NobelPrize.org (Nobel Foundation), 2003
  7. 7.Jewish Nobel Prize Winners in Physics (note 18 on Abrikosov) · Jinfo.org
  8. 8.Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov · Wikipedia
  9. 9.Абрикосов, Алексей Алексеевич (Abrikosov, Alexei Alexeyevich) · Wikipedia (Russian)
  10. 10.Абрикосов, Алексей Иванович (патологоанатом) (Abrikosov, Alexei Ivanovich, pathologist) · Wikipedia (Russian)
  11. 11.«В России я натерпелся достаточно» ('I suffered enough in Russia'): obituary of Alexei Abrikosov, by Andrei Borisov · Lenta.ru, 2017
  12. 12.Прощание с нобелевским лауреатом Абрикосовым состоится 31 марта в Калифорнии (Farewell to Nobel laureate Abrikosov to be held 31 March in California) · Interfax, 2017
  13. 13.Работать и быть честным: принципы жизни гениального физика Абрикосова (To work and be honest: the life principles of the physicist Abrikosov), reprinted from Moskovsky Komsomolets · Russian Academy of Sciences (ras.ru news), 2017
  14. 14.Alexei Abrikosov, Nobel Laureate in Physics, Dies at 88 (archived copy) · The New York Times (via Internet Archive), 2017
  15. 15.Landau's Theoretical Minimum, Landau's Seminar, ITEP in the Beginning of the 1950's, by Boris L. Ioffe · arXiv (arXiv:hep-ph/0204295), 2002
  16. 16.Anticosmopolitan Campaign, by Yaacov Ro'i · YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
  17. 17.Doctors' Plot, by Jonathan Brent · YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
  18. 18.Niobium-titanium · Wikipedia
  19. 19.Superconducting magnet · Wikipedia
  20. 20.Pulling together: Superconducting electromagnets · CERN
  21. 21.Alexei Alekseevich Abrikosov. 25 June 1928-29 March 2017, by Andrey Varlamov and Peter Littlewood (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 76, 9-26) · The Royal Society, 2024

Fact-checked on September 24, 2026 by a separate AI fact-checking pass that re-opened the sources, with 7 corrections made. How we check

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