Serafim Nikolaevich Zhurkov

Zhurkov, Serafim Nikolaevich 

Born May 3 (16) 1905, in the village of Trubitkino, Lebedian’ District, Tambov Province. Soviet physicist. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1968; corresponding member, 1958). Member of the CPSU since 1944.

Zhurkov graduated from the University of Voronezh in 1929. In 1930 he began working at the Leningrad Physicotechnical Institute. In 1947 he became a professor at Leningrad University. His principal investigations deal with the mechanical properties of solids and polymers. Zhurkov’s works are devoted to elucidating the nature of the strength of brittle materials and polymers and to studying the general regularities governing the processes of temperature-dependent mechanical breakdown and the duration of the action of mechanical stress. He conducted an investigation of the molecular mechanism of transition to a solid state (vitrification) of polymers and amorphous substances. Zhurkov also developed a theory of the plasticization of polymers.

REFERENCES

“Zhurkov Serafim Nikolaevich (K 60-letiuu so dria rozdeniia).” Uspekhifizicheskikh nauk, 1965, vol. 87, issue 2. (Contains a bibliography of works.)