Career Koptsik was born on 26 February 1924 in
Ivanovo. In 1941-1944 he worked as a turner in a defence plant in Moscow. Koptsik graduated from
Moscow State University in 1949. He then began post-graduate work under the supervision of
A.V. Shubnikov and submitted his candidate's dissertation in 1953. In 1953 Koptsik was hired as an assistant to Shubnikov in the new department of
Crystallography and Crystal Physics at
MSU. He progressed through various positions, earning his doctorate in 1963, becoming full professor in 1967, and head of department from 1968 to 1974 succeeding Shubnikov. Koptsik is known for his contributions to the physics of
electrically and magnetically ordered crystals, the
tensor representation of
anisotropic media, the theory of
crystal symmetry, and the symmetry aspects of structural
phase transitions. From 1966 Koptsik was a member of the Committee on International Crystallographic Tables of the
International Union of Crystallography (IUCr); in 1983 he became a member of the subcommittee on nomenclature of
n-dimensional crystallography.
Works The majority of Koptsik's works were published in Russian. Books published by Koptsik: •
Shubnikov groups: handbook on the symmetry and physical properties of crystal structures (1966) Koptsik published 300 academic papers. • A general sketch of the development of the theory of symmetry and its applications in physical crystallography over the last 50 years (1968) • Views of Aleksei Vasil'evich Shubnikov on crystallography and crystal physics (on the ninetieth anniversary of his birth) (1977) • Symmetry principle in physics (1983) • Generalized symmetry in crystal physics (1988) • Symmetry bases. The contemporary symmetry theory in solids (1994)
Honours and awards •
E. S. Fedorov Prize of the
Russian Academy of Sciences for his contributions to the theory of
symmetry (1973) • Honoured Professor of
Moscow State University (1996) • Honoured Scientist of the
Russian Federation (1999) ==References==