阿列克谢·斯塔罗宾斯基1948—2023

斯塔罗宾斯基于2023年12月21日逝世，终年75岁。

Alexei Alexandrovich Starobinsky (Russian: Алексе́й Алекса́ндрович Староби́нский; 19 April 1948 – 21 December 2023) was a Soviet and Russian theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He was a pioneer of the theory of cosmic inflation, for which he received the 2014 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics together with Alan Guth and Andrei Linde.

Born in Moscow, Starobinsky obtained a degree in physics from Moscow State University in 1972 and a doctorate in theoretical and mathematical physics from the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in 1975, the latter under the supervision of Yakov Zeldovich. Starobinsky remained at the Landau Institute, becoming its principal research scientist in 1997 and holding this position until his death.

While still a doctoral student, in 1973 he showed that, according to the uncertainty principle, rotating black holes must emit particles. This work led to Stephen Hawking conjecturing Hawking radiation. In 1979, he became the first to propose a model of cosmic inflation, postulating what is now known as Starobinsky inflation.

Early life and education

Alexei Alexandrovich Starobinsky was born on 19 April 1948 in Moscow, in the former Soviet Union, to two radio physicists. He went to a physics and technology high school where he graduated in 1966. He attended Moscow State University, earning an MSc degree in physics in 1972. In 1975, he obtained a PhD in theoretical and mathematical physics from the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Yakov Zeldovich with a thesis titled Quantum Effects and the Amplification of Waves in Strong Gravitational Forces.

Career

After finishing his doctorate, he remained at the Landau Institute working as a research scientist. In 1997, he became the institute's principal research scientist, a position he held until his death. From 1990 to 1997, he headed the institute's department of gravitation and cosmology and, from 1999 to 2003, he was also the institute's deputy director.

Starobinsky was a visiting professor at the École Normale Supérieure in 1991, the Research Center for the Early Universe at the University of Tokyo from 2000 to 2001, the Institut Henri Poincaré in 2006, the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics of Kyoto University in 1994 and 2007, and Utrecht University from 2014 to 2015. In 2017, he was also appointed as a part-time professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics

Research

Starobinsky's research commenced while he was still a student in the early 1970s with the study of particle creation in the early universe alongside Zeldovich. In 1973, building on Zeldovich's prior research, he showed that, according to the uncertainty principle, rotating black holes must emit particles. They were visited in Moscow by Stephen Hawking, who was spurred to find a precise mathematical treatment for this phenomenon. He would later conjecture that all black holes (not just rotating ones) emit energetic particles, a theoretical effect known today as Hawking radiation.

Subsequently, Starobinsky shifted his focus to cosmology. He began investigating the early universe and the Big Bang, attempting to use quantum mechanics and general relativity to understand how an expanding universe may have formed.

Personal life and politics

Starobinsky's father died when he was two years old. In February 2022, he signed an open letter by Russian scientists condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Starobinsky died on 21 December 2023 at the age of 75. He is buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Honors and awards

Starobinsky received the Medal For Labour Valour of the Soviet Union in 1986 and the second class Order For Merit to the Fatherland in 2009.

Starobinsky was awarded the 1996 Friedmann Prize for his work on the inflationary stage of the universe and its observational manifestations. He and Mukhanov were joint recipients of the 2009 Tomalla Prize for their contributions to cosmological inflation, with Starobinsky specifically recognised for his calculations of the gravitational radiation emitted during the inflationary epoch of the universe. He received the Oskar Klein Medal in 2010. Starobinsky and Mukhanov were also co-recipients of the Amaldi Medal from the Italian Society for General Relativity and Gravitation in 2012 and the Gruber Prize in Cosmology in 2013.