Igor Solovtsov 1952–2007
Friends and colleagues were saddened to learn that the well known theoretical physicist Igor Leonidovich Solovtsov died in Gomel, Belarus, on 28 July 2007. Aged 55, he suffered an unexpected heart attack.
Igor was born in Belarus, then part of the Soviet Union, on 9 January 1952. He graduated from secondary school in Gomel in 1970, and then went to Moscow State University where he studied particle physics and quantum field theory, graduating with honours. He became a trainee researcher at the Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna in 1976 and received his Candidate of Science degree (first doctoral degree) there in 1979 with a dissertation on Harmonic analysis of the Lorentz group in composite models of elementary particles.
After teaching for three years at Gomel Polytechnical Institute, he became head of the Mathematics Department there in 1981. He held this post until 1993, when he returned to the Bogoliubov Laboratory as a senior scientist and there defended his dissertation for Doctor of Science in 2000. A year later, he returned to Belarus (although he retained his affiliation with JINR) as head of the Department of Higher Mathematics at Gomel State Technical University. He also became head of the International Centre for Advanced Studies in Gomel, which was jointly established by Gomel State University and JINR.
Igor was a leading expert on QCD, devising clever approximation schemes for extracting phenomenologically relevant information from this rather intractable theory. For example, he popularized a technique in the mid-1990s called variational perturbation theory. It was this work that first brought him to my attention, and together we wrote a proposal to the US National Science Foundation in 1996, which, together with generous support from the University of Oklahoma, allowed him and his wife to make extended visits to the US. It was during these visits that we applied analytic perturbation theory – a new idea developed by Igor and Dimitri Shirkov in 1997 – to study many inclusive processes in QCD. This work still has an impact.
It was during a theoretical conference in Gomel, after he had given a review talk on 10 years of development of this subject, that Igor fell ill and died. He leaves behind his fellow-physicist wife, Olga, and two sons, Alexander and Dmitry.
Igor was a wonderful family man, a brilliant scientist and a true friend. His loss is tremendous for theoretical physics, as well as for all those who wish to make progress in understanding how the Standard Model really describes nature. I am sure that his wife Olga Solovtsova will be able to carry on their joint work.
Kimball A Milton, University of Oklahoma.