Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
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| Image:Phystech shield.jpg
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| Motto | Sapere aude (Dare to be wise; Have courage to use your own reason) |
|---|---|
| Established | 1946 |
| Type | Public |
| Rector | Nikolai Kudryavtsev |
| Students | ~ 3,600 |
| Location | Dolgoprudny, Russia |
| Website | www.mipt.ru |
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (Russian: Московский Физико-Технический институт), abbreviated MIPT or informally Phystech (alternative transliterations: MFTI, Fizteh, Russian: МФТИ, Физтех) is the leading Russian university, originally established in the USSR. It is preparing specialists in theoretical and applied physics, applied mathematics and related disciplines. It is sometimes referred to as "the Russian MIT".
MIPT is famous in the countries of the former Soviet Union but is less known abroad. This is largely due to specifics of MIPT educational process (see "Phystech System" below). With its emphasis on practical research in the educational process, MIPT "outsources" education and research beyond the first two-three years to institutions of Russian Academy of Sciences. MIPT's own faculty is relatively small, and many distinguished lectors are visiting professors from those institutions. Student research is also typically performed outside of MIPT, and research papers do not identify the authors as MIPT students. In contrast, university rankings such as The Times Higher Education Supplement are based primarily on publications and citations. This effectively hides MIPT from the academic radar—an effect not unwelcome during the Cold War era when leading scientists and engineers of Soviet arms and space programs studied here.
The word "phystech", without the capital P, is also used in Russian to refer to Phystech students and graduates.
MIPT campus is located in Dolgoprudny, a satellite town of Moscow.
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[edit] History
In late 1945 and early 1946 a group of prominent Soviet scientists, including in particular the future Nobel Prize winner Pyotr Kapitsa, lobbied the government for the creation of a higher education institution of a type radically different from the one established in the Soviet system of higher education. Applicants carefully selected by challenging examinations and personal interviews would be taught by, and work together with, prominent scientists. Each student would follow a personalized curriculum created to match his or her particular area of interests and specialization. This system would later become known as the phystech system.
In a letter to Stalin in February 1946, Kapitsa argued the need for such a school, which he tentatively called Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, in the interests of maintaining and developing the country's defense potential. The institute would follow the principles outlined above and was supposed to be governed by a board of directors of the leading research institutes of the USSR Academy of Sciences. On March 10, 1946, the government issued a decree mandating the establishment of "College of Physics and Technology" (Russian: Высшая физико-техническая школа). <ref>"Повесть древних времён или предыстория Физтеха", Ch 3 by N. V. Karlov.</ref>
For unknown reasons, the initial plan came to a halt in the summer of 1946. Exact circumstances are not documented, but the common assumption is that Kapitsa's refusal to participate in the atomic bomb project and his disfavor with the government and communist party that followed cast a shadow over an independent school based largely on his ideas. Instead, a new government decree issued on November 25, 1946 established the new school as Department of Physics and Technology within Moscow State University. November 25 is celebrated as the date of MIPT founding. <ref>"Повесть древних времён или предыстория Физтеха", Ch 4 by N.V. Karlov.</ref>
Even though the original Kapitsa's plan to create the new school as an independent organization (he foresaw that within a traditional educational institution it would run against a bureaucratic pushback) did not come to fruition exactly as envisioned, its most important principles survived intact. The new Department enjoyed considerable autonomy within MSU. Its facilities were in Dolgoprudny (the two buildings it occupied are still part of the present day campus), away from the MSU campus. It had its own independent admissions and education system, different from the one centrally mandated for all other universities. It was headed by MSU "vice rector for special issues"--a position created specifically to shield the department from the University management.
As Kapitsa expected, the special status of the new school with its different "rules of engagement" caused much consternation and resistance within the university. Immediate cult status Phystech gained among talented young people, drawn by the challenge and romanticism of working on the forefront of science and technology on projects of "government importance", many of them classified, made it an out-of-reach rival of every other school in the country, including MSU's own Department of Physics. At the same time, the worsening disfavor of Kapitsa with the government (in 1950 he was essentially under house arrest), and anti-semitic repressions of the late 40s made Phystech an easy target of intrigues and accusations of "elitism" and "rootless cosmopolitanism". In the summer of 1951 Phystech as a department of MSU was shut down. <ref>"Повесть древних времён или предыстория Физтеха", Ch 6 by N.V. Karlov.</ref>
A group of academicians backed by aviation general Ivan Fedorovich Petrov, who was a Phystech supporter influential enough to secure Stalin's personal approval on the issue, succeeded in re-establishing Phystech as an independent institute. On September 17, 1951, a government decree re-established Phystech as Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. <ref>"Повесть древних времён или предыстория Физтеха", Ch 7 by N.V. Karlov.</ref>
Apart from Pyotr Kapitsa, other prominent scientists who taught at MIPT in the years that followed include Nobel prize winners Nikolay Semyonov, Lev Landau and Alexandr Prokhorov, Academy of Sciences members Sergey Khristianovich, Mikhail Lavrentiev, Mstislav Keldysh, Sergey Korolyov, Boris Rauschenbach.
[edit] Phystech System
Phystech system is a coherent whole described in detail further in this article. The following is a summary of its key principles, as outlined by P.L.Kapitsa in a letter in 1946 arguing for MIPT founding:
- Rigorous selection of gifted and creatively thinking young individuals.
- Involving leading scientists into their education, in close contact with them in their creative environment.
- Individual approach to students to cultivate their creative drive, to avoid common in other schools overload by unnecessary subjects and rote learning necessitated by mass education.
- Conducting their education in the atmosphere of research and creative engineering, using the best existing laboratories of the country.
In its implementation, Phystech System combines highly competitive admissions, extensive fundamental education in mathematics, theoretical and experimental physics in undergraduate years, and immersion in research work at the leading research institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences starting as early as the second or third year.
[edit] Departments
The institute has nine departments, with an average of 100 students admitted annually into each. <ref>2005 Admission Statistics (in Russian)</ref>
- Radio Engineering and Cybernetics
- General and Applied Physics
- Aerophysics and Space Research
- Molecular and Biology Physics
- Physical and Quantum Electronics
- Aeromechanics and Flying Engineering (located in Zhukovsky)
- Control and Applied Mathematics
- Problems of Physics and Power Engineering
- Innovation and High Technology
[edit] Admissions
Most students apply to MIPT immediately after graduating from high school at age 17. Child prodigies are occasionally admitted at a younger age after skipping grades in school. Because admission is competitive, some of those who are not admitted reapply the following year(s).
Traditionally, applicants were required to take four exams in mathematics and physics--written and oral in each--write an essay, and have an interview with the faculty. The interview has always been an important part of the selection process. Sometimes an applicant with lower exam grades could be admitted and one with higher grades rejected based solely on the interview results.
In recent years oral exams were eliminated but the interview remains an important part of the selection process.
Strongest performers in national physics and mathematics competitions and IMO/IPhO participants are granted admission without exams, subject only to the interview.
In accordance with traditions of Soviet education system, education at MIPT is free for most students. Further, students receive small scholarships ( as of 2006, $40-$50 per month depending on student's performance ), and effectively free housing on campus, which allows them to study full time.
[edit] Education
It normally takes six years for a student to graduate from MIPT. The curriculum of the first three years consists exclusively of required courses, with emphasis on mathematics, physics, and English. At that time there is no significant curriculum difference between the departments. Typical course load during the first and second years can be over 40 hours a week not including homework. Classes are taught five days a week, beginning at 9am and continuing until 5pm or 6:30 pm. Most subjects include combination of lectures and seminars (problem-solving study sessions in smaller groups) or laboratory experiments. Lecture attendance is optional, while seminar and lab attendance affects grades.
MIPT follows a semester system. Each semester includes 15 weeks of instruction, two weeks of finals, and then three weeks of oral and written exams on most important subjects covered in the preceding semester.
Starting with the third year, the curriculum matches each student's area of specialization, and also includes more electoral courses. Most importantly, starting with the third year students begin work at base institutes (or "base organizations", usually simply called bases). The bases are the core of the Phystech system. Most of them are research institutes, usually belonging to Russian Academy of Sciences. At the time of enrollment, each student is assigned to a base that matches his or her interests. Starting with the third year a student begins to commute to the base regularly, becoming essentially a part-time employee. During the last two years a student spends 4-5 days a week at the base institute and only one day at MIPT.
The base organization idea is somewhat similar to internship in that students participate in "real work". However, similarity ends there. All base organizations also have curriculum for visiting students, and besides work the students are required to take those classes and pass exams. In other words, a base organization is an extension of MIPT specializing in each particular student's area of interests.
While working at the base organization, a student prepares a thesis based on his or her research work and presents ("defends") it before the Qualification Committee including both MIPT faculty and the base organization staff. Defending the thesis is a requirement for graduation.
[edit] Base Organizations
As of 2005, MIPT had 103 base organizations. The following list of institutes is currently far from being complete:
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems RAS
- Institute for Problems of Physics
- Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics
- Shirshov Institute of Oceanology
- Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of RAS
- Institute of Solid State Physics RAS
- Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
- Institute for High Energy Physics
- Kurchatov Institute (formerly Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy)
- Lebedev Institute of Physics RAS (FIAN)
- Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering
- Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics
- N.N. Andreyev Acoustics Institute
- Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography RAS
- Space Research Institute RAS
- Steklov Institute of Mathematics
- and a number of OKBs (experimental design bureaux)
In addition, a number of Russian and Western companies act as base organizations of MIPT. These include:
- and others.
[edit] Degrees and Reputation
Before 1998, students could graduate only after completing the full six-year curriculum and defending the thesis. Upon successful graduation they were awarded a specialist degree in Applied Mathematics and Physics and, beginning in early 90s, a Master's degree in Physics.
Starting with 1998, students are awarded a Bachelor's degree diploma after four years of study and the defense of a Bachelor's "qualification work" (effecively a smaller and less involved version of the Master's thesis). Estimated 90% of students continue their education after receiving this diploma to complete the full six-year curriculum and receive the Master's degree.
The complete course of education in MIPT takes six years, just as an American Bachelor's degree followed by M.S. degree. However, MIPT graduates usually evaluate their training higher than an American M.S. in Physics. MIPT curriculum is indeed considerably more extensive compared to an average American college<ref>Phystech's Educational Approach</ref>. In addition, American M.S. programs usually focus more on classroom education and less on research. There is an opinion that MIPT specialist/Master's diploma may be roughly equivalent to an American Ph.D. in physics<ref>Academicians, Hierarchy and Titles in Russian Science, MIPT Web Site</ref>—possibly an undue generalization which, however, may be true in some cases[citation needed].
Despite high quality of education, MIPT is not seen on worldwide top university ranking lists (e.g. Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranking or The Times Higher Education Supplement). The reason for that is the mismatch between methodologies of those studies, geared towards "traditional" universities, and MIPT's highly unusual system of education.
Traditional university rankings are based on the universities' research output and prizes won by faculty<ref>Shanghai Jao Tong University ranking methodology</ref>. In contrast, many distinguished professors teaching at MIPT are officially staff of base institutes (see above) rather than MIPT itself. Student research work is also typically carried out outside of MIPT, and published research results do not mention MIPT. In effect, many MIPT professors are not considered as such for the rankings, and student research is not earning any ranking points for MIPT.
[edit] Demographics
About 15% of all students are residents of Moscow; the rest come from all over the former Soviet Union. Most out-of-town students live in the dormitory on campus for at least the first 4 years. Many senior students move to another dormitory in Moscow, while some either move to base institute dormitories or rent apartments.
Student population is almost exclusively male, with female/male ratio in a department rarely exceeding 15% (seeing 2-3 women in a class of 80 is not uncommon).
There is no reliable statistics of careers of MIPT graduates. Many continue research in their base institutes. Some graduates become business people or software engineers. Some, especially high-performing students of prestigious departments (DGAP, DAME), go on to get post-graduate degrees from foreign universities, often in order to pursue academic careers in the First World countries. In the past, some students were known to have been admitted into Ph.D. programs of American universities as early as after 3rd year of education. Many MIPT's alumni hold faculty positions in the world's top Universities, including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Brown, University of Toronto, and University of Chicago.
[edit] Famous faculty and alumni
Alexei Abrikosov - prominent physicist, Nobel Prize winner.
Yuri Baturin - former Russian head of national security, cosmonaut.
Vitaly Ginzburg - prominent Soviet and Russian physicist, Nobel Prize winner, co-developer of Soviet hydrogen bomb.
Alexandr Kaleri - Russian cosmonaut and veteran of extended stays on the Mir Space Station and the International Space Station.
Pyotr Kapitsa - prominent Soviet physicist, Nobel Prize winner, discoverer of superfluidity.
Leonid Khachiyan
Lev Landau - prominent Russian physicist, Nobel Prize winner.
Sergei Lebedev - Soviet scientist in the field of electrical engineering and computer science.
Boris Rauschenbach - prominent Soviet rocket engineer and Academician.
Aleksandr Serebrov - Russian cosmonaut.
Natan Sharansky - Israel politician, former Deputy Prime Minister, Interior Minister, Minister of Industry and Trade.
Rashid Sunyaev - head of the High Energy Astrophysics Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Sergey Nikolskii - prominent Russian mathematician.
Eugene Platon - Soviet and international yachtsman.
[edit] References
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