(since 1991 – of the Russian Academy of Sciences). In 1967, it was awarded the Order of Lenin. These details were reflected in the institute name, especially in Russian. Also now, for historical reasons, there remained the entrance plaque (s. photo): “Academy of Sciences of the USSR, A. F. Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, awarded the Order of Lenin” (). Presently, in English texts, for example in scientific papers, the name “[А. F.] Ioffe [Physical-Technical] Institute [of the Russian Academy of Sciences]” is used (the optional fragments are enclosed in square brackets). Main scientific achievements The Ioffe Institute is considered the cradle of Soviet physics. Such outstanding scientists as L. D. Landau, P. L. Kapitsa started their career here, many physicists — among them Y. B. Zeldovich, I. V. Kurchatov, I. E. Tamm — have worked at the institute for some time. The research of the institute covers nearly all fields of the contemporary physics, including the solid-state, semiconductors, quantum electronics, astrophysics, plasma, fluid dynamics, cosmology, nuclear synthesis. More than 100 employees of the institute were recognized by awarding the highest prizes and orders of the Soviet Union and of Russia – in particular the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR, State Prizes of Russia, Government prizes and special prizes of the Soviet/Russian Academy of Sciences. Twice, the Nobel Prize was awarded for the works performed at the Ioffe Institute. In 1956, academician N. N. Semyonov (together with C. N. Hinshelwood) got the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for a discovery and study of chain reactions: the works were made and published in 1927, when N. N. Semyonov was a staff member of the institute. In 2000, Zh. I. Alferov, director of the Ioffe Institute at that time, became a Nobel Prize laureate in Physics (together with H. Kroemer and J. Kilby) for the development of semiconductor heterostructures for high-speed optoelectronics. The Ioffe Institute has played a central role in the development of photovoltaic solar power in Russia and internationally, and thus in the development of renewable energy. Buildings The main building of the Ioffe Institute (s. photo at the top of the article and the very left part of the photo below) is located at Polytechnicheskaya Street, 26. It was built in a Neoclassicism style in 1912–1916 by the architect G. D. Grimm and served as "a refuge for the elderly needy hereditary noblemen in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of