60th%20anniversary%20of%20Eugene%20Chudnovsky

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60th anniversary ofEugene Chudnovsky
Presentation in Coma-Ruga on 8 July 2008

• Producer Dmitry Garanin (Lehman College CUNY)
• Drawing Marina Garanin (Uni Heidelberg)
• Artistic Director Elena Kuschnerova (Hall of
  Fame)

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Eugene Chudnovskys AUTOBIOGRAPHY Born
December 12, 1948 in Leningrad (currently
Sankt-Petersburg) Father Michael Chudnovsky,
WW-II hero, colonel of Russian Air Force Mother
Sofia Chudnovsky-Matusov, Professor of Roman
languages Twin Brother Alexander 1953 Father
with family transferred to Kharkov, Ukraine 1966
EC graduated from high-school, entered Kharkov
University 1971 M.S. in Physics and Engineering,
Summa cum Laude 1973 Ph.D. in Theoretical
Physics, Research Professor 1979 Applied for
exit visa, forced to resign 1979-1987 Dark years
under KGB surveillance, published in western
journals. 1987 Family allowed to leave, teaches
at the U. of Rome on the way to U.S. 1987 Assoc.
Prof. at Tufts University, Boston 1988 Full
Prof. at City U. of NY 1999-present
Distinguished Prof. at City U. of
NY 1998-present Scholar of Institute for
Theoretical Physics, U. of California, Santa
Barbara
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(continued) APS Fellow since 1995 elected For
seminal contributions to theory of random
ferromagnetism, macroscopic quantum tunneling,
and hexatic order in high temperature
superconductors Human Rights Chair of
Committee on International Freedom of Scientists
of the APS, Chair of Human Rights of Scientists
Committee of the NY Academy of Sciences, member
of the Board of Governors of the Committee of
Concerned Scientists Major accomplishments
Theory of Amorphous Ferromagnets Theory of
Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling of the Magnetic
Moment Theory of Orientational Order in Flux
Lattices of Superconductors The end.
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Editors comment on Eugene Chudnovskys bio The
Russian State agency KGB has found something
about Eugene that was not kosher.. .. Or about
his parents.. .. Or about his grand
parents.. .. As well as about many other
people.. Thus after the university graduation he
was not allowed to work. And he was not allowed
to look for work abroad during 9 years. Eugene
has not complied. He worked inofficially and
became what he is now. His personal story is the
source of his Human Rights committment.
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What the colleagues think about Eugene

• Eugenes main contributions
• - Macroscopic quantum tunneling in magnetic
  systems (Myriam Sarachik, Ilya Krive, Rolf
  Schilling, Wayne Saslow, Bernard Barbara, Leon
  Gunther)
• - Theory of random-anisotropy magnets
  (David Sellmyer, Wayne Saslow)
• - Spin-Hall effect (Wayne Saslow)
• - Universal mechanism of decoherence in
  solids (Jonathan Friedman)
• - The proof that a scientist can
  productively work under most adverse conditions.
  This is a kind of proposition that needs to be
  proved at least once a century in order to remain
  true. Naturally, only a few were able to do that
  (Yuri Tarnopolsky)
• Editors comment Eugene has many faces, as an
  icosahedron or dodecahedron. Tell me what face
  you see and I tell you who you are. I like all
  above-) Plus most recent yet little known
  things, and everything we have collaborated on,
  such as the universal spin-lattice coupling

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2) What do you mostly like in him as a
scientist? - Eugene has always impressed me
because of his deep and elegant treatments of
novel physical phenomena (David Sellmyer) -
He is one of the most original scientists I know.
Excellent feeling for physically interesting
questions which he attacks with careful
analytical tools (Rolf Schilling) - The
ability to solve complex (and always realistic)
physical problems by using simple models and
mathematical methods. He is always very clear and
physical in his considerations (Ilya Krive) -
Hes exciting to work with - new, unexpected,
fascinating physics continually bubbles out of
his head (Myriam Sarachik) - He is like
Einstein (but with better hair) He thinks deeply
about physics and fundamental issues (Jonathan
Friedman) - His excellent knowledge of the
literature and his creativity based on simple
ideas (Bernard Barbara) - I had the great
pleasure of working with Eugene when he arrived
at Tufts University - research that led to our
producing two seminal papers on Quantum Tunneling
of Magnetization. Eugene's fresh and clear Landau
style of doing physics was an utter delight for
me (Leon Gunther) - The ability to make most
complicated things understandable to a novice
(Yuri Tarnopolsky)
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3) What do you mostly like in him as a person?
- His contributions to the Program for Refugee
Scientists There are many colleagues here now who
owe their career success to Eugene's wonderful
work. He has been in particular the leading
advocate for many scholars in Cuba who are
imprisoned because of their peaceful expression
about freedom in that country. (Pierre Hohenberg,
Joel Lebowitz) - Intelligence. By sharing
with me his intellect, he made the most difficult
years of my life in a way enjoyable. Those were
his most difficult years, too (Yuri Tarnopolsky)
- In my opinion patience and firmness (in
Russion "stojkost'") are two main features that
formed his character (Ilya Krive) - He is an
extremely pleasant collaborator, who explains
complex magnetic phenomena with utmost patience
and grace (David Sellmyer) - He is a rather
relaxed and very friendly person. I like very
much that he is enthusiastic in flying small
airplanes (Rolf Schilling) - His contagious
enthusiasm and open generosity. Hes interesting
and great fun (Myriam Sarachik) - He's
upbeat. He knows how to turn lemons into lemonade
(Wayne Saslow) - Eugene has a very playful
personality. He seems to take great joy in life
(Jonathan Friedman) - His is a very pleasent
person with a sense of humor that I like very
much. He can also be a good friend (Bernard
Barbara).
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Spiritual father
The Chudnovsky family, 1962 Michael, Eugene,
Sophia, and Alexander
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Eugenes Human Rights visit to Cuba
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Eugene the Adventurer
Ostap (Gustavo) Bender, the Great
Combinator (Literary character, Eugenes
prototype, active in South Russia)
Eugene roaming Africa
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Eugene was planning to escape to the US by boat
with some scientific treasures. Later he changed
his mind and got pilots licence.
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After landing. Well, it took some time. Eugene is
somewhat older and has another and very promising
kid (next slide)
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Eugene with Michael Rambo Chudnovsky
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Although Eugene is American now, he is still
European in his heart. (Photo
made by a surveillance camera in the Olite region
in Spain, 1997, the year of the famous Tudela
Conference)
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Finally the truth about professor Eugene
Chudnovsky
Most of the colleagues do not know Eugene very
well and they exaggerate his contribution. I
(left) work with him every day and I know him
much better. Eugene (right bottom) is an
ordinary distinguished college professor in NYC,
my collaborator. This is a group meeting, nothing
special. How we work together is shown in the
next slide.
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This is how we are collaborating at Lehman
College
Telescope Microscope
!
Eugene
Dmitry
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Eugene Chudnovsky with his brother Alexander
(nome de guerre Albine Steinovsky), the actual
owner of the most of main achievements
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Albert Einstein (spiritual father, for reference
purposes)
Eugene Chudnovsky (our celebree)
Albine Steinovsky (his legendary brother, a
statistically average look)
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Albine is very volatile, permanently in
transition. At some moments he looks just like
his brother Eugene, with good hair. But when
inspiration comes, he transforms into his
spiritual father.
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Or like this, getting closer to experiment.
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Albine Steinovsky if famous for his explanation
of spin tunneling as Brownian motion under the
barrier in molecular magnets
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Steinovskys idea found its confirmation in
pioneering experiments carried out by the Don
Quixada group in Catalucia.
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Javier Don Quixada, Albines best friend and
collaborator, as well as his age mate, is honored
in a separate presentation. He is fearless in
defending his scientific visions in the fight
against blind mediocracy, overblown goatskins,
and windmills.
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The team
Dmitry
Elena
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Appendices
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A letter from Wayne Saslow I must confess that I
don't know Eugene very well at all, despite the
fact that we have collaborated at a distance. It
all started in the mid-1980s, when Chris Henley,
knowing of my interest in random anisotropy
magnets, told me about the work of Eugene and
Slava Serota. I met Slava one summer in Cambridge
(I have relatives there), and we discussed the
idea of writing a paper that would summarize what
Eugene had done and would add a few things to it.
That paper, on magnets with random anisotropy,
has received more citations (over 250) than any
other of mine, including one with Bert Halperin
on the hydrodynamics of spin glasses. This work
was done while Eugene was a refusenik. I believe
we corresponded a little, but my memory is not
clear on this. I have since met Eugene at a few
APS meetings. On only one occasion did we spend
any extended time together. This was in the
mid-1990's, when I visited CUNY and gave a talk.
Afterward we went to his apartment and discussed
physics and daughters. Somehow I learned that he
had gathered yellow amber on the Baltic Sea, and
had many pieces. Since at that time I was in the
thick of writing an introductory textbook on
Electricity and Magnetism, it was wonderful for
me to see this yellow amber. The Greek word for
sun - helios had morphed into the word for
amber - electron - but until I saw this
sun-yellow amber I had no idea why that morphing
had occurred. I used this tidbit for my
textbook. Since then I have not really kept up
on his research. I certainly know of his work on
quantum mechanical tunneling of spins. I think
his recent non-specialist's work on the Spin Hall
Effect is quite lovely, since it cuts to the core
using simple ideas, and avoiding the obfuscation
that occurs in most of the specialist works on
this subject. What can I say about Eugene as a
person? I like him! He's upbeat. He knows how to
turn lemons into lemonade. He works hard. He
knows how to laugh. He's adventuresome enough to
learn how to fly a plane. All good things. And I
look forward to a visit from him this Fall at
Texas AM perhaps a collaboration will
develop. Wayne Prof. Wayne Saslow 521 ENPH
Department of Physics Texas AM University
College Station, TX 77843-4242
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Dear Eugene,
Congratulations on turning 60!
Clearly, for me, your work on molecular
nanomagnets has had the greatest influence on my
own career. If I had to pick out one or two
papers (of many), I would pick the following
E. M. Chudnovsky and D. A. Garanin, Spin
Tunneling via Dislocations in Mn12 Acetate
Crystals, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 187203 (2001).
and E. M. Chudnovsky and D. A. Garanin, First-
and second-order transitions between quantum and
classical regimes for the escape rate of a spin
system, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 4469-4472 (1997).
The first has had such an influence on my own
studies, and the second I simply find very
beautiful.
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But I cannot ignore your influence on the beaches
of Comaruga, where your salmon-like agility saved
so many goals for the rest of the world team.
It is little known that I was once a goal keeper,
but your dominance allowed me to evolve (like a
fish out of water) to an outfield role. However,
with two left feet, and rules that do not allow
me use of my hands, I was forced to use only my
head (imagine that!), even when the ball was only
6 (12.7cm) above the sand!!
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Best wishes and Happy Birthday! I hope that we
may spend more afternoons playing football on the
beach at Comaruga, and that we may continue to
find new wonders in this beautiful field of
single-molecule magnets. Cheers, Steve Hill
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Photos made after the presentations to the honor
of Eugene Chudnovsky Javier Tejada
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Eugene Chudnovsky with Viktor Moshchalkov
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The End or the Bad lion Michael