Hasan Abdullayev

Work

Academician Abdullayev dedicated over fifty years of his life to the physics of semiconductors. Discovered new groups of binary and ternary compounds of selenium and tellurium, suggested diodes with controlled electronic memory, created complex semiconductors used as receivers for visible and infrared spectrum areas. By researching the physics of selenium and selenium appliances, was the first to explain the abnormalities in selenium and invented an approach to control them. Carried out a set of research projects to receive semiconductor monocrystals of complex chemical composition for lasers and memory modules. Elaborated new semiconductor materials for heat converters.

In 1954, Hasan Abdullayev founded the Department of Semiconductor Physics at the Baku State University (BSU). Abdullayev founded the Nakhchivan and Ganja branches of the Azerbaijan SSR Academy of Sciences and established more than 50 scientific production and construction bureaus, which were tasked with the application of scientific theories and discoveries, and their more rapid introduction into production and life, in the republic.

According to a 2010 article published in the Russian scientific journal Physics and technique of semiconductors of the Joffe Institute, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of semiconductor electronics research in the USSR, one of the important roles in Soviet semiconductor electronics research, development and innovation was done by academician Abdullayev.

Academician Abdullayev's lifelong research and work concentrated on chemical elements selenium and tellurium, their applications in semiconductors, biophysics and nuclear sciences.

Zhores Alferov, the Nobel-prize winning physicist, praised the work and legacy of his late colleague and friend, academician Abdullayev, recognizing how hard it was for Azerbaijani scientists to rise even within USSR, much less in the world, and only a few people as Abdullayev managed to do it, creating new industries and directions in physics and other sciences.

At the initiative and under the direct leadership of academician Hasan Abdullayev the following research and scientific institutions and initiatives were established:

• 1947 – Citywide (later Republican) seminars on physics in Baku
• 1954 – Department of Semiconductor Physics established at the Baku State University
• 1957-1959 – Institute of Physics and Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics
• 1959 – Shemakha Astrophysical Observatory, based on the astrophysics Sector
• 1965 – Institute of Cybernetics established
• 1967 – Batabat Astrophysical Sector (now Observatory) in Nakhchivan region
• 1969 – Radiation Research Sector, later the Institute of Radiation Problems, on the basis of which the National Centre for Nuclear Research has been created in 2014
• 1970 – Scientific-production associations «Ulduz», «Nord», «Azon», «Iskra», «Tellur», «Billur» (1968)
• 1972 – Nakhchivan Research Center, which is now the Nakhchivan Department of ANAS (National Academy of the Republic of Azerbaijan)
• 1972 – Sector of Microbiology (now Institute); Experimental-production works at the Institute of Petrochemical Processes
• 1973 – The branch of the Institute of Applied Physics, which is now the Institute of Photo-electronics;
• 1973—Sheki Zonal Scientific Base, which became the Sheki Regional Research Center
• 1974 – Department of Astrophysics at the Baku State University;
• 1974 -- "Caspian" Research Center at the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR, since 1992 – Azerbaijan Space Agency
• 1975 – two Laboratories of High-Energy Physics at the Institute of Physics. Collaborative research with the Institute of Nuclear Research (Dubna) and the Institute of High-Energy Physics (Serpukhov)
• 1976 – The Sector of Physics of the Earth at the Institute of Geology;
• 1976—Research and Development Institute of viticulture and winemaking in Mehtiabad region of Azerbaijan
• 1978 – Institute of Space Research of Earth Natural Resources (first of a kind in the world)
• 1978—Institute of Organochlorine Synthesis in Sumgayit.
• 1978 – Special Construction Bureau (SCB) "Cybernetics". SCB with pilot plant "Crystal"; Darndag SCB Technology Bureau with Pilot Plant
• 1979—Seysmic Station in Guba. (under aegis of "Geophysics" scientific center of ANA)
• 1979 – Agsu Research and Development base in Khanlar region
• 1980-1981 – Regional Scientific Center in Ganja (then called Kirovabad)
• 1981 – Pilot Plant "Selenium"; "Register" with pilot production; Special Construction-Technological Bureau (SKTB) "Reagent". (1982); Special Construction Bureau (SKB) "Crystal" in Baku (1985) and other scientific institutions and technology productions

Awards

Academician Hasan Abdullayev was honored with the top Soviet award — the Order of Lenin in 1978, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, the Vavilov Gold Medal of the Federation of Cosmonautics Siolkovsky Gold Medal of the Federation of Cosmonautics, was laureate of Azerbaijan SSR State Award in 1972, was an Honored Scientist of Azerbaijan SSR, and with other medals and prestigious Soviet and international scientific awards.

Scientific efforts and peer recognition

Academician Hasan Abdullayev is the author of 28 monographs, several scientific textbooks, approximately six hundred scientific journal articles. He holds 585 patents from USSR (including 171 secret and 65 top secret patents for technologies with military applications), and 35 foreign patents from France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Sweden, Italy, Bulgaria, India, and U.S. (United States Patent 3,472,652).

Academician Abdullayev received highest praise from his colleagues, including Nobel Prize winner academician Zhores Alferov, Nobel Prize winner academician Alexander Prokhorov, Kurchatov Institute President and Director Evgeny Velikhov, academician Bentsion Vul, academician Vladimir Tuchkevich, academician Sergey Kapitsa, academician Roald Sagdeev, Nobel Prize winner professor Rudolf Ludwig Mossbauer, academician Nikolay Bogolyubov, Soviet Academy of Sciences Presidents academician Alexander Nesmeyanov, academician Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov, academician Mstislav Keldysh and other Soviet and foreign scientists.

According to a 2008 article, "Academician Abdullayev was called the Father of Physics in Azerbaijan and one of the Founders of the School of Semiconductor Research in the Soviet Union by such authoritative scientists as academicians Zh.Alferov, Yu.Gulyaev, L.Kurbatov, V.Isakov, Professor D.Nasledov, and others. In fact, the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, the most authoritative Soviet encyclopedia — the Soviet equivalent of the Encyclopædia Britannica in the West, listed the names of scientists, making the greatest contributions to the development of semiconductor electronics and microelectronics in this order: A.F.Ioffe (who was Abdullayev's mentor during his postdoctoral studies in Leningrad), N.P.Sazhin, Ya.I.Frenkel, B.M.Vul, V.M.Tuchkevich, H.B.Abdullayev, Zh.I.Alferov, L.V.Keldish, and others (Third Edition, 1970, page 351). Thus, already in 1970, this encyclopedia put academician Abdullayev as the sixth most influential scientist in semi-conductor research, higher than such giants as Academicians Alferov and Keldish!"

Academician Abdullayev was recognized as the top expert on the chemical element selenium, and thus entrusted authoring the article on selenium in the third (final) edition of the top scientific reference publication — the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.