(1928–    ), Russian-born American physicist and Nobel laureate. Born on June 25, 1928, in Moscow, he received (1951) his Ph.D. from the Institute for Physical Problems, where he studied thermal diffusion in plasmas. Four years later the same institute awarded him his next degree, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, for which he wrote a thesis on quantum electrodynamics at high energies. Abrikosov was head of the condensed matter theory division of Russia's Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics from 1966 to 1988 and chair of theoretical physics at the Moscow Institute for Steel and Alloys from 1976 to 1991. In 1991, he moved to the U.S. and joined the materials science division of the Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Ill.

Abrikosov's most recent research has concentrated on a material property called magnetoresistance, but his most notable accomplishments have been in the field of condensed-matter physics, the study of the structure and behavior of solids and liquids. His focus on superconductivity, a material's ability to carry electrical current without resistance when at very low temperatures (see Cryogenics), led him to propose the concept of “type-II superconductors,” which allow magnetic fields to pass through them. He also described the particular arrangement of magnetic flux lines, named the Abrikosov vortex lattice after him. He built his theory on the work of Russian physicist Vitaly L. Ginzburg and others, explaining how superconductivity and magnetism can coexist between certain magnetic field thresholds. He did so by predicting the magnetic use of vortices and showing that when vortices overlapped, superconductivity was lost. Superconducting magnets are used to produce powerful magnetic fields for nuclear magnetic resonance, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as it is commonly called in its medical applications.

Abrikosov shared the 2003 Nobel Prize in physics with Ginzburg for “pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors” and with British-American physicist Anthony J. Leggett, who was cited for “pioneering contributions to the theory of superfluids.”