Vitaly L. Ginzburg

From Philosopedia

Ginzburg, Vitaly Lazarevich (4 October 1916 - 8 November 2009 )

A Russian theoretical physicist and astrophysicist, Ginzburg graduated from the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University in 1938, earning his Ph. D. in 1942.

Among his achievements were a partially phenomenological theory of superconductivity, the [Ginzburg-Landau theory], developed with Landau in 1950; the theory of electromagnetic wave propagation in plasmas (for example, in the ionosphere); and a theory of the origin of cosmic radiation.

Andrei Sakharov had worked on the USSR's hydrogen bomb with him, and the two stayed friends even after Sakharov was internally exiled in 1980.

Ginzburg identified himself as a secular Jew, and since the collapse of communism in the former USSR, he had been very active in Jewish life, especially in Russia, where he served on the board of directors of the Russian Jewish Congress and was one of the country's leading critics of religion. He was highly critical of the Russian Orthodox Church and also was known for fighting anti-Semitism and supporting the state of Israel.

Ginzburg, chairperson of the Department of Physics and Astrophysics at Moscow University, signed Humanist Manifesto 2000.

He was an advisor to the Russian Academy of Sciences. An atheist, Ginzburg believed “in the rational approach to interpreting facts and phenomena (even those that cannot be explained at first), to living life, to critically examining scientific data, and the materialistic viewpoint.” He added

• Modern humanism, in my view, is not possible without an active anticlerical position, materialism, and a scientific approach. I also have a commitment to moral and ethical principles, which have been developed by humanity during its long history. The church pretends to be the monopolistic interpreter of those principles, but that is not justified. The religious use them to confirm their dogmas and myths. . . . Religion and true science are not compatible. Religion, in essence, is not different from astrology or any other false science. The church is not a savior to society. It leads the “lost souls,” using its own expression, away from reality. The church does not heal people but paralyzes their will; it does not inspire, but produces people with an impoverished spirit. For a normal, healthy person in a normal society, religion is like chains.

In 2003, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics, supplying the Swedish committee with an autobiography at the age of 87 that included photos of his parents and family.

In 2006, in an interview with Rossilskaya Gazeta, the official government newspaper, he said,

• Faith is the free choice and right of every person. But I am against the propagation of religion in schools. . . . In general, I envy believers. I am 90 and being overcome by illnesses. For believers it is easier to deal with them and with life's other hardships. But what can be done? I cannot believe in resurrection after death.

Dying in 2009 of a cardiac attack in November, he had been in ill health. His funeral was held at the Russian academy of Sciences's Lebedev Physical Institute column hall.

Awards and Honors

USSR State Prize in 1953

Lenin Prize in 1966

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1991

Wolf Prize in Physics in 1994/5

Lomonosov Gold Medal in 1995

Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003,

together with Alexei Alexeevich Abrikosov and Anthony James Leggett.

{“The Failure of Faith in Russia,” Free Inquiry, Winter 1998-1999}