On August 9, 2023, a renowned scientist and educator, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Director of the Research Institute of Physics, Head of the Department of General and Experimental Physics of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia Yuri Andreevich Gorokhovatsky passed away.
Professor Gorokhovatsky held the position of Head of the Department of General and Experimental Physics at the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia from 1991. Yu. A. Gorokhovatsky showed his bright organization skills during the difficult years of perestroika and the collapse of the USSR when he not only managed to preserve the potential of the physical laboratories, but also succeeded to enhance it to meet the new requirements for educating and training teachers of Physics.
A talented experimental physicist, Yuri Andreevich ran a number of laboratories at the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, where he conducted research based on the methods of thermal activation spectroscopy developed by himself in line with modern trends in dielectric physics. He actively involved students and postgraduates of the faculty in research work in the laboratories.
In May 2007, due to the enthusiasm and hard work of Yuri Andreevich, a Research Institute of Physics was established on the basis of the research laboratories of the Faculty (now the Institute) of Physics of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. Since its inception, Yuri Andreevich was the head of the Research Institute. Under his leadership the Research Institute was intensively developing, and in 2021, it has become a research center that include three departments and five centers for collective research.
Yuri Andreevich was a talented lecturer and a considerate mentor throughout his pedagogical career. Over the past twenty years, he was a scientific supervisor of 15 PhD candidates and 2 doctorates in physical and mathematical sciences. As deputy chairman of the dissertation council, head of the postgraduate educational program on Condensed Matter Physics, deputy editor-in-chief of the scientific journal “Physics of Complex Systems”, Professor Gorokhovatsky contributed significantly to the development of Russian science.
During the years of work at the higher school, Yuri Andreevich was the author of textbooks on general physics that provide a comprehensive treatment of the basic principles and phenomena.
For many years, Yu. A. Gorokhovatsky was the organizer of the international scientific conferences «Physics of Dielectrics» and «Physics in the system of modern education», which enhanced the role of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia in these scientific fields.
The merits of Yu. A. Gorokhovatsky in the field of development of science and education received well-deserved recognition. By decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he received the honorary title Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation.
The Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia acknowledged the outstanding achievements of Yuri Andreevich by conferring on him the title of «Honorary Professor of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia», awarding him the medal in honor of I.I. Betsky and the medal «For Achievements in the field of science and education».
Yuri Andreevich’s colleagues at the institute of Physics of the Herzen State Pedagogical University mourn the irreparable loss and express sincere condolences to the family of Yuri Andreevich.