Vladimir Alexandrovich Fock (22.12.1898-27.12.1974) was a Soviet theoretical physicist and an academician (1939; corresponding member 1932). He was born in St Petersburg. He graduated from Petrograd University (1922) and worked there (from 1932 as professor). At the same time he worked in 1924 — 36 at the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute and in 1928 — 41 at the State Optical Institute, in 1934—41 and in 1944—53 at the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in 1954-64 at the Institute for Physical Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
His work was in the field of quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics, quantum field theory, the theory of many-electron systems, statistical physics, relativity, the theory of gravitation, radiophysics, mathematical physics and philosophical questions of physics. Already in his first papers on quantum mechanics he obtained a number of results that contributed to its development (the generalisation of the Schrödinger equation to the case of a magnetic field and to the relativistic case of the motion of a charged particle in an electromagnetic field, the geometrisation of the Dirac equation together with D. D. Ivanenko, and so on).
In 1930, to explain atomic spectra, he developed a method of approximate description and calculation of a system of interacting fermions, which found wide application in the theory of many-electron systems — the so-called self-consistent field method, or the Hartree — Fock method (this method was also developed by D. Hartree in 1928). He developed a geometric theory of the hydrogen atom, using the methods of group theory, and was the first to discover the hidden symmetry in the hydrogen atom.
In 1932 he proposed a method of treating systems with a variable number of particles in configuration space (the method of second quantisation in Fock space). The two methods mentioned above, developed by Fock, proved fruitful for the construction and development of the quantum theory of many-particle systems. In 1932, together with P. Dirac and B. Podolsky, he developed the many-time formalism, a relativistically invariant form of quantum electrodynamics, which in essence completed its formation and was at the same time a precursor of the formalism of modern quantum electrodynamics, created in 1946—49. In 1934 he proposed a special way of formulating the equations of quantum field theory and of the quantum many-body theory — the method of Fock functionals. For his research on quantum field theory, in particular on second quantisation and quantum electrodynamics, carried out in 1928 — 57, he was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1960.
He studied a number of important problems of the theory of gravitation and proposed an approximate method of solving Einstein's equations for spherically extended masses on the assumption that space is Euclidean at infinity (1939), considered the derivation of the equations of motion of bodies with account of their structure and rotation, the obtaining of ten integrals of motion, and so on. The “Fock representations”, “Fock symmetry conditions”, “Fock transformations” and “Fock formulas” are also widely known.
Fock's works on the theory of diffraction are of enormous theoretical and practical importance; in particular he developed a rigorous theory of the propagation of radio waves over the Earth's surface without regard to the atmosphere (USSR State Prize, 1946).
He paid considerable attention to philosophical questions of physics, in particular to the methodology of quantum mechanics. He took an active part in discussions of fundamental questions of quantum mechanics and relativity. His work contributed to a great extent to a correct understanding of the essence of physical theories and of their philosophical significance.
Hero of Socialist Labour (1968). A member of a number of academies of sciences and scientific societies. The D. I. Mendeleev Prize (1936).