Nobel Lecture

Vitaly L. Ginzburg held his Nobel Lecture December 8, 2003, at Aula Magna, Stockholm University. He was presented by Professor Mats Jonson, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics.

Summary: Influenced by Lev Landau, Ginzburg's theoretical work on superconductivity began in 1943. His theoretical work including phase transitions, effective charge, pairing and critical field is described. A turning point was the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity which created great interest. Ginzburg stressed that work is still needed to understand thermoelectric effects. The inspiring lecture ends with Ginzburg persuading physicists to have a broad view of physics, and stating that every physicist should know about his list of the 30 most important problems in physics.