Russian Universities: Theoretical Physics Graduate Programs

[Winzer]

How are Russian Universities for theoretical physics in general? I ask because I might be interested in graduate school there.

 

[Winzer]

To answer my own question, I have been looking at MIPT [Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology] noted as the "Russian MIT." It looks quite impressive. In a review I read it is said that a masters in Physics at MIPT is equivalent to a PHD in an American university- I don't know how accurate this is, but from other sources I hear it is possible.

 

[will.c]

If that were true, wouldn't the same class of students that get admitted for an MIT Ph.D. be clamoring for spots at MIPT? A sillier, but related question; should MIT be called the American MIPT?

I don't mean to sound too snarky; I know nothing about the education one can get there, and the fact that I've heard of it before means it does carry international prestige... Of course that also means it's at least as, if not moreso, competitive than the top American Ph.D. programs.

 

[Vanadium 50]

It's anecdotal, but I know a Russian theoretical physicist (who is on faculty at a US university) who got a PhD from Moscow State, and then got another one from Michigan State. That should give you some idea of where he perceived the relative ranking of the two universities,

 

[Winzer]

I am not finding anything on admission statistics and requirements for MIPT.
Anyone know good resources?

 

[Fearless]

try mailing their admissions office?

 

[eastside00_99]

moscow state university is really famous...it is either the first or second oldest academic institution in russia. The mathematics and mechanics department is good. I assume the physics department is also. I don't know where MichSU stands in physics, but I don't think I would rank it as comparable to moscow state if we are talking about math. I would say moscow state university is comparable to a top ten university in math like Umich. Often, people get two degrees because they do part of their work at one university and then the other part at a vastly different university and satisfy both requirements (this may or may not mean writing two dissertations). This is especially a possibility for many foreign students as their degrees are often not even called a doctorate of philosophy. The reason for this is because their thesis advisor is on leave at this other university. I truly can't see any significant advantage to having two basically equivalent degrees in the same subject even if their is a gulf between where each respective degree was obtained...people must do it for more essential purposes.

 

[Minich]

How are Russian Universities for theoretical physics in general? I ask because I might be interested in graduate school there.

The best in Russia in theoretical physics are:

1. Saint-Petersburg State University (i graduated from it, so did Putin ))
It has several theoretical divisions in physics faculty. The level is very high. It is a question for anybody to be talented enough to overcome the programm.
Three Nobel Prize laureates — N. N. Semenov, L. D. Landau and A. M. Prokhorov — have graduated from the Physics Faculty. There worked Mendeleev, V. Fock.
http://www.phys.spbu.ru/englishpages/

2. MIPT (near Moscow 2 km)
http://phystech.edu/
Kapitsa, Landau and Semenov - the fathers of MIPT.
"a group of the most prominent Soviet scientists proposed to create an educational institution of a new kind. This proposal received the seal of approval from Joseph Stalin himself in 1946 and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology was born."
For example students practice at institutions of Russian Academy of sciences:
Center of world pathology (Landau quote)=Landau Institute of Theoretical Physics
http://itp.ac.ru/itp_lite/index.php

The Institute of Solid State Physics (ISSP)
http://www.issp.ac.ru/engl/

3.Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (State University)
http://www.mephi.ru/eng/second.html
Teach specialist for nuclear scientific centers and nuclear industry.

4. Moscow State University
http://www.phys.msu.ru/eng/news/latest/
Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) is the most ranked and oldest University in Russia. It was founded as the Emperor's Moscow University under the decree of the empress Yelizaveta Petrovna on January 25, 1755. In 1940 the Moscow State University was named after the famous Russian scientist Mikhailo Vasil'evich Lomonosov, the spiritual father of the University.
1928, Profs. L. I. Mandelshtam and G. S. Landsberg discovered and correctly interpreted the phenomenon of combinational light scattering in quartz crystal. For the same, simultaneously obtained results on benzol a physicist from India, Dr. Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Seven out of ten Russian Nobel Prize winners in Physics have been working at the Faculty of Physics: Profs. I. E. Tamm and I. M. Frank, who won the Nobel Prize in 1958 «for discovery and interpretation of Cherenkov effect»; Prof. L. D. Landau, who won the Nobel Prize in 1962 «for the pioneering research in the theory of condensed matter and liquid Helium, in particular», Professor A. M. Prokhorov, who won the Nobel Prize in 1964 «for fundamental works in the field of quantum electronics that led to the laser invention»; Prof. P. L. Kapitsa, who won the Nobel Prize in 1978 «for fundamental inventions and discoveries in the field of low temperature physics». In October 7, 2003, the former Faculty's Prof. A. A. Abrikosov and the former faculty's graduate, Prof. V. L. Ginzburg were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their outstanding works in the field of theory of superconductivity and superfluidity.

Prof. A. D. Sakharov, our graduate, also becomes a Nobel Prize winner for Peace. His outstanding achievements in physics, specifically his participation in the thermonuclear bomb project, are acknowledged worldwide.

5. Novosibirsk State University (Siberia)
http://www.nsu.ru/english/education/department/list.xml

These 5 are the most advanced in theoretical (fundamental) physics in Russia. There are more specific institutions (for example, Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, were i gave courses in industrial robots and CNC ),...) in a greate number.

 

[Minich]

To answer my own question, I have been looking at MIPT [Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology] noted as the "Russian MIT." It looks quite impressive. In a review I read it is said that a masters in Physics at MIPT is equivalent to a PHD in an American university- I don't know how accurate this is, but from other sources I hear it is possible.

In fact it is very close to be true. But till now we had our own system of diploma and scientific grades. It worked very well, but unfortunately our reformers try now to cut it to international standards :((((
And these standards are not so high as ours.

 

[Minich]

Can't resist the temptation to give the url of division where i spent my young years (V. Fock was then alive):
http://fock.phys.spbu.ru/english/retrospect_en.htm

 

[Hippo]

I've read about that University its really a good school for producing Russian Scientist and Engineers. And also you are sure enough to have jobs and internship available because of the increase funding from the state.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Putin pledges $25 bln in state funding for high-tech projects
18:58 | 20/ 08/ 2008

MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - Around 600 billion rubles ($25 bln) will be earmarked for a series of high-tech programs until 2010, Russia's prime minister said Wednesday at a conference on science and education.

"We have never provided this sort of money for such purposes before," Vladimir Putin said.

The Russian premier also announced that a five-year program for fundamental research worth 250 billion rubles ($10.2 billion) had been approved.

The program should boost Russia's socio-economic development and enhance its security, Putin said.

He criticized the Russian research sphere for dependency on federal budget funding and insufficient cooperation with education, and urged measures to develop the commercial potential of research.

http://www.en.rian.ru/russia/20080820/116166234.html

 

[Hippo]

Over 700 Russian scientists part of Large Hadron Collider project
11:58 | 08/ 09/ 2008MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - The development of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, has involved over 700 Russian physicists from 12 research institutes, a project coordinator said Monday. http://en.rian.ru/photolents/20080807/115864274.html" .

The $5.8 billion international project, which will be officially unveiled on October 21 at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French initials CERN, has involved more than 2,000 physicists from hundreds of universities and laboratories in 34 countries since 1984.

"The project involved a total of 700 people [physicists from Russia] from 12 institutes," said Viktor Savrin, deputy director of the Research Institute of Nuclear Physics at Moscow State University.

Only several dozen Russian researchers reside at CERN, but working visits mean there could be at anyone time around 200 Russian researchers at the center.

Back in 2000, then CERN director Roger Cashmore said "we would not have been able to create the LHC without them [the Russians]."

Savrin said the project had given a substantial boost to 30 manufacturers which were also involved. The navy's Baltic Fleet even provided unused brass.

"Russia received orders totaling $120 million from CERN to build the detectors and the accelerator," the researcher said.

According to Savrin, Russia also provided around 5% of funding for detectors and some 3% of all spending on the accelerator.

The accelerator complex, 27 kilometers in circumference, sits in a subterranean tunnel about one hundred meters below the Franco-Swiss border, near Geneva, Switzerland.

Once it is up to speed, it is hoped the collider will produce the so-called Higgs boson, the observation of which could confirm the predictions and "missing links" in the Standard Model of physics and could explain how other elementary particles acquire properties such as mass.

Ahead of the first test to run a proton beam along the entire length of the collider's ring to be held Wednesday, the LHC Russian coordinator said that unless the Higgs boson is found, no larger device would ever be built.

"I do not think it is realistic to build a larger accelerator on a similar scheme, nobody is likely to venture to do that," Savrin said.

Some theorists and members of the general public have long voiced fears that microscopic black holes may appear as a result of the launch of the LHC, capturing surrounding matter and ultimately leading to the destruction of the entire planet.

However, scientists have consistently dismissed these allegations as "ridiculous."

"Obviously, the world will not end when the LHC switches on," Lyn Evans, the head of the project at CERN, said in June.

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/2773/67055660lu8.jpg[/PLAIN]
The collider is a particle accelerator contained in a circular tunnel with a circumference of 27 kilometers (17 miles).

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/9319/54019561zk6.jpg
The Large Hadron Collider is designed to accelerate protons and heavy ions.

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8899/75791716cc7.jpg
The European laboratory’s experiment is aimed at simulating the conditions that emerged fractions of a microsecond after the Big Bang (the hypothetical primal explosion from which the universe originated).

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/6416/67492246hf5.jpg
If the experiment succeeds, scientists will be able to answer many questions about the creation of the universe that until now have only been discussed theoretically.

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/6416/67492246hf5.th.jpg
Some scientists believe there is a possibility the experiment could get out of control and spark a chain reaction that could theoretically destroy the planet.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/8770/19900480ai6.th.jpg
Maximilien Brice © CERN
The most widely voiced concern is that the high-energy particle collisions taking place in the LHC might produce dangerous phenomena, including micro-black holes that could spread to the adjacent matter.

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1326/38541864ff4.th.jpg
In response to these concerns, the LHC Safety Study Group concluded in a report that there is “no basis for any conceivable threat.”

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/3800/20886393rq9.jpg

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/8240/26180775du6.th.jpg
The authors of the report do not rule out the emergence of micro-black holes, but argue that they will only appear for a short period of time and will not pose a threat.

http://www.en.rian.ru/science/20080908/116610960.html

 

[Minich]

Somebody from Sarfatti Physics Seminars @ yahoogroups.com
wrote:
)
The turning on tomorrow of the Large Hadron Collider is
a ten billion dollar physics experiment. It just goes to show
what Benjamin Franklin is reputed to have said--
"The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys."

 

[Anna Borisova]

I don't study physics in Russia, but I know russian universities well. So I can tell you that really Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology is the best in Russia.

 

[Vanadium 50]

This thread is many years old. The OP may well ave graduated by now.