Editing Nikolay Basov

{{Short description|Soviet physicist}}{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{distinguish|Nikolay Baskov}}
{{Infobox scientist
| native_name       = {{nobold|Николай Басов}}
| native_name_lang  = ru
| image             = Basov.jpg
| caption           = Basov in 1964
| birth_name        = Nikolay Gennadiyevich Basov
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1922|12|14|df=y}}<ref name=brit>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikolay-Basov Nikolay Gennadiyevich Basov]. Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref>
| birth_place       = [[Usman (town)|Usman]], [[Tambov Governorate]], [[Russian SFSR]]<ref name=brit/>
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2001|7|1|1922|12|14|df=y}}<ref name=brit/>
| death_place       = [[Moscow]], [[Russia]]<ref name=brit/>
| resting_place     = [[Novodevichy Cemetery]], Moscow
| field             = [[Physics]]
| alma_mater        = [[Moscow Engineering Physics Institute]]
| doctoral_students = 
| work_institution  = [[Lebedev Physical Institute]]
| known_for         = Invention of [[laser]]s and [[maser]]s
| spouse            = Ksenia Tikhonovna Basova<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1964/basov/biographical/ | title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1964 }}</ref>
| children          = [[Dimitri Basov]] (physics professor at [[Columbia University]])
| prizes            = {{nowrap|[[Nobel Prize in Physics]] {{small|(1964)}}<br>[[Kalinga Prize]] {{small|(1986)}} <br>[[Lomonosov Gold Medal]] {{small|(1989)}} <br>[[Edward Teller Award]]{{small|1991)}} }}
}}
'''Nikolay Gennadiyevich Basov''' ({{langx|ru|Никола́й Генна́диевич Ба́сов}}; 14 December 1922 – 1 July 2001) was a Russian Soviet [[physicist]] and educator. For his fundamental work in the field of [[quantum electronics]] that led to the development of [[laser]] and [[maser]], Basov shared the 1964 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with [[Alexander Prokhorov]] and [[Charles Hard Townes]].<ref name=i-lasers>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100926022159/http://i-lasers.com/basov.html "Basov Nikolay Gennadiyevich"]}}</ref>

==Early life==
Basov was born in the town of [[Usman (town)|Usman]], now in [[Lipetsk Oblast]] in 1922.<ref name=AC /> He finished school in 1941 in [[Voronezh]], and was later called for military service at [[Kuibyshev Military Medical Academy]]. In 1943 he left the academy and served in the [[Red Army]]<ref name=AC /> participating in the [[Second World War]] with the [[1st Ukrainian Front]].

==Professional career==
Basov graduated from [[Moscow Engineering Physics Institute]] (MEPhI) in 1950. He then held a professorship at MEPhI and also worked in the [[Lebedev Physical Institute]] (LPI), where he defended a dissertation for the ''[[Candidate of Sciences]]'' degree (equivalent to [[PhD]]) in 1953 and a dissertation for the ''[[Doctor of Sciences]]'' degree in 1956. Basov was the Director of the LPI in 1973–1988. He was elected as  [[corresponding member]] of the [[USSR Academy of Sciences]] ([[Russian Academy of Sciences]] since 1991) in 1962 and  [[academician|Full Member]] of the Academy in 1966.<ref name=brit/> In 1967, he was elected a Member of the Presidium of the Academy (1967—1990), and since 1990 he was the councillor of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1971 he was elected a Member of the [[German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]].<ref>[http://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/list-of-members/member/1815/ List of Members]. Leopoldina.org. Retrieved on 30 July 2020.</ref> He was Honorary President and Member of the International Academy of Science, Munich.<ref>International Academy of Science (1989) [http://www.ias-icsd.org/resources/ICSD-IAS-Founding-Members-1989.pdf Selection of IAS-ICSD Founding Members]. </ref><ref>[http://www.ias-icsd.org/history.html History – International Academy of Science, Munich]. Ias-icsd.org. Retrieved on 30 July 2020.</ref> He was the head of the laboratory of quantum radiophysics at the LPI until his death in 2001.<ref name=i-lasers/>

In the early 1950s Basov and Prokhorov developed theoretical grounds for creation of a molecular oscillator and constructed such an oscillator based on [[ammonia]]. Later this oscillator became known as [[maser]]. They also proposed a method for the production of [[population inversion]] using inhomogeneous electric and magnetic fields. Their results were presented at a national conference in 1952 and published in 1954. Basov then proceeded to the development of laser, an analogous generator of coherent light. In 1955 he designed a [[three-level laser]], and in 1959 suggested constructing a [[semiconductor laser]], which he built with collaborators in 1963.<ref name=brit/> Basov  with co-workers proposed [[Disk laser]] in 1966  <ref name="Basov, N G 1966">{{cite journal |title=Semiconductor lasers with radiating mirrors
|journal=IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics|volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=9 B4 |year=1966|last1= Basov |first1=N G|last2=Bogdankevich |first2= OV|last3=Grasiuk |first3= AZ|doi=10.1109/JQE.1966.1073948|bibcode=1966IJQE....2Q.154B }}</ref> and realized experimentally the thin disk [[active mirror]] semiconductor lasers.<ref name="Bogdankevich,O V 1973">{{cite journal |title=Semiconductor electron-beam-pumped lasers of the radiating mirror type 
|journal=IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics|volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=342–347|year=1973|last1=Bogdankevich |first1= OV|last2=Darznek |first2= SA|last3= Pechenov|first3= A N|last4=Vasiliev|first4= BI|last5=Zverev |first5= MM|doi=10.1109/JQE.1973.1077470|bibcode=1973IJQE....9..342B }}</ref>
He developed with colleaguaes the first nonlinear theory of [[coherent addition]] of laser sets.
<ref name="Basov, N G 1965">{{cite book |doi=10.1117/12.160374 |s2cid=110333595 |chapter=Diffraction synchronization of lasers |title=CIS Selected Papers: High-Power Multibeam Lasers and Their Phase Locking |date=1993 |editor-last1=Lebedev |editor-first1=Fedor V. |last1=Basov |first1=Nikolai G. |last2=Belenov |first2=E. M. |last3=Letokhov |first3=Vladilen S. |series=Proceedings of SPIE |volume=2109 |pages=134–144 |editor-first2=Anatoly P. |editor-last2=Napartovich }}</ref> N.G.Basov encouraged the researchers in [[nonlinear optics]] in [[Lebedev Institute]] who discovered the [[optical phase conjugation]]. 
<ref name="Okulov, A YU 1980J">{{cite journal |title=Connection Between the Wave Fronts of the Reflected and Exciting Light in Stimulated Mandel'shtem-Brillouin Scattering |journal=Sov. Phys. JETP Lett.|volume=15 |issue=6 |pages=109 |year=1972
|last1= Zel'dovich |first1= B Ya
|last2= Popovichev |first2=V I
|last3= Ragul'skii |first3=V V
|last4= Faizullov |first4= F S 
|bibcode=1972JETPL..15..109Z}}</ref>
Together with [[Lebedev Institute]] researchers he realized the robust method of the phase-locking of laser arrays via  [[optical phase conjugation]] in [[Stimulated Brillouin scattering]].<ref name="Basov, N G  1980">{{cite journal |title=Laser interferometer with wavefront reversing mirrors
|journal=Sov. Phys. JETP|volume=52 |issue=5 |pages=847 |year=1980 
|last1= Basov |first1=N G
|last2= Zubarev |first2=I G
|last3= Mironov |first3=A B
|last4= Michailov |first4= S I
|last5= Okulov |first5= A Yu
|bibcode=1980ZhETF..79.1678B}}</ref> 
<ref name="Boyd, R W 1997">{{cite journal |title=Brillouin-enhanced four-wave-mixing vector phase-conjugate mirror with beam-combining capability
|journal=Optics Letters|volume=22 |issue=6 |pages=360–362  |year=1997 
|last1= Bowers |first1=M W
|last2= Boyd |first2=R W
|last3= Hankla |first3=A K
|doi=10.1364/OL.22.000360|pmid=18183201|bibcode=1997OptL...22..360B|s2cid=25530526 }}</ref> 

Basov's contributions to the development of the laser and maser, which won him the [[Nobel Prize]] in 1964, also led to new missile defense initiatives.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fnqN-1UaNI4C "Soviet ballistic missile defense and the Western alliance"], David Scott Yost. Harvard University Press, 1988. {{ISBN|0-674-82610-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-674-82610-6}}. p. 58</ref>

He died on 1 July, 2001 at [[Moscow]] and was buried at [[Novodevichy Cemetery]].

==Politics==
He entered politics in 1951{{clarify|date=December 2012}} and became a member of parliament (the [[Soviet of the Union]] of the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union|Supreme Soviet]]) in 1974.<ref name=AC>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3-G3vi5av28C "A century of Nobel Prizes recipients: chemistry, physics, and medicine"], Francis Leroy. CRC Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-8247-0876-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8247-0876-4}}. p. 174-175</ref> Following [[U.S. President]] [[Ronald Reagan]]'s speech on [[Strategic Defense Initiative|SDI]] in 1983, Basov signed a letter along with other Soviet scientists condemning the initiative, which was published in the New York Times.<ref name=TS>[https://books.google.com/books?id=J6cx2ZOixcYC "The strategic defence initiative: US policy and the Soviet Union"], Mira Duric. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2003. {{ISBN|0-7546-3733-6}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7546-3733-2}}. p. 43-45</ref> In 1985 he declared the Soviet Union was capable of matching SDI proposals made by the U.S.<ref name=TS />
{{clarify|date=December 2012}}

==Books==
*N. G. Basov, K. A. Brueckner (Editor-in-Chief), S. W. Haan, C. Yamanaka. ''Inertial Confinement Fusion'', 1992, Research Trends in Physics Series published by the American Institute of Physics Press (presently [https://web.archive.org/web/20050323204949/http://www.springer-sbm.de/index.php?id=121&L=0 Springer], New York). {{ISBN|0-88318-925-9}}.
*V. Stefan and N. G. Basov (Editors). ''Semiconductor Science and Technology'', Volume 1. [[Semiconductor]] [[Lasers]]. (Stefan University Press Series on Frontiers in Science and Technology) (Paperback), 1999. {{ISBN|1-889545-11-2}}.
*V. Stefan and N. G. Basov (Editors). ''Semiconductor Science and Technology'', Volume 2: [[Quantum Dots]] and [[Quantum Wells]]. (Stefan University Press Series on Frontiers in Science and Technology) (Paperback), 1999. {{ISBN|1-889545-12-0}}.

==Awards and honours==
[[File:Nicolay Basov and Aleksandr Prokhorov with wives 1964.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Basov and Prokhorov with wives in Stockholm in 1964]]
[[File:Nikolay Basov 2022 stamp of Russia.jpg|thumb|Basov on a 2022 stamp of Russia]]
* [[Lenin Prize]] (1959)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1964, with the pioneering work done in the field of quantum electronics)
* [[Hero of Socialist Labour]] — twice (1969, 1982)
* Gold Medal of the [[Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences]] (1975)
* A. Volta Gold Medal (1977)
* [[Kalinga Prize]] (1986)
* [[USSR State Prize]] (1989)
* Lomonosov Grand Gold Medal, [[Moscow State University]] (1990)
* [[Order of Lenin]] – five times
* [[Order of Merit for the Fatherland]], 2nd class
* [[Order of the Patriotic War]], 2nd class

==See also==
*[[Excimer laser]]
*[[Maser]]
*[[Alexander Prokhorov]]
*[[Lebedev Institute of Physics]]
*[[Disk laser]]
*[[Nonlinear optics]]
*[[Coherent addition]]
*[[Michelson interferometer]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Nicolay Basov}}
*[http://novodevichye.com/basov/ Basov's grave]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20010824104541/http://nature.ru/db/msg.html?mid=1165378&s=120000000 Detailed biography] {{in lang|ru}}
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1964 ''Semiconductor Lasers''
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4495 Oral History interview transcript with Nikolay Basov on 14 September 1984, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives]
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1951-1975}}
{{1964 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basov, Nicolay}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Usman, Russia]]
[[Category:Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class]]
[[Category:Soviet Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Recipients of the USSR State Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Soviet physicists]]
[[Category:Optical physicists]]
[[Category:Laser researchers]]
[[Category:Soviet inventors]]
[[Category:Soviet military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Spectroscopists]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lomonosov Gold Medal]]
[[Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery]]
[[Category:Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]]
[[Category:Moscow Engineering Physics Institute alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin]]
[[Category:Kalinga Prize recipients]]
[[Category:Russian scientists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]