Ginzburg’s “Physical Minimum” at the beginning of the XXI century
By Dr. Muhter Ahat

The 2003 Noble prize in physics was shared by A. A. Abrikosov, Vitaly L. Ginzburg, and Anthony J. Leggett. The prize was awarded to their contributions in understanding of superconductivity and superfluidity. According to the tradition of Noble Prize, each winner will give a talk and it is called “Noble Lecture”. Vintly L. Ginzburg, 87 years old, is from the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Academy of Science, Russia. In his lecture, he outlined what he has been done, how he  collaborated with Landau and others, how important were their contributions in the theory of superconductivity. More interestingly, he raised questions for younger generations. He comes up with the excellent ideas and categorizes the major issues in physics. He called it: “Physical Minimum” at the beginning of the XXI century. Here is his list of “Physical Minimum”:

1. Controlled nuclear fusion.
2. High-temperature and room-temperature superconductivity.
3. Metallic hydrogen. Other exotic substances.
4. Two-dimensional electron liquids, the anomalous Hall effect and other effects.
5. Some questions of solid-state physics heterostructures in semiconductors, quantum wells and dots, metal-dielectric transitions, charge- and spin density waves, mesoscopics.
6. Second-order and related phase transitions. Some examples of such transitions. Cooling sin particular, laser cooling to superlow temperatures. Bose-Einstein condensation in gases.
7. Surface physics, Clusters.
8. Liquid crystals, Ferroelectrics, Ferrotoroics.
9. Fullerenes, Nanotubes.
10. The behavior of matter in superstrong magnetic fields.
11. Nonlinear physics. Turbulence, Solitons, Chaos, Strange attractors.
12. X-ray lasers, gamma-ray lasers, superhigh-power lasers.
13. Superheavy elements, Exotic nuclei.
14. Mass spectrum, Quarks and gluons, Quantum chromodynamics, Quark-gluon plasma.
15. Unified theory of weak and electromagnetic interactions, W± and Z0 bosons, Leptons.
16. Standard Model, Grand unification, Superunification. Proton decay, Neutrino mass. Magnetic monopoles.
17. Fundamental length, Particle interaction at high and superhigh energies, Colliders.
18. Nonconservation of CP invariance.
19. Nonlinear phenomena in vacuum and in superstrong magnetic fields, Phase transitions in a vacuum.
20. Strings, M theory.
21. Experimental verification of the general theory of relativity.
22. Gravitational waves and their detection.
23. The cosmological problem, Inflation, The L term and “quintessence.” Relationship between cosmology and high-energy physics.
24. Neutron stars and pulsars, Supernova stars.
25. Black holes, Cosmic strings.
26. Quasars and galactic nuclei, Formation of galaxies.
27. The problem of dark matter hidden mass and its detection.
28. The origin of superhigh-energy cosmic rays.
29. Gamma-ray bursts, Hypernovae.
30. Neutrino physics and astronomy, Neutrino oscillations.

As you noted this is very interesting and very helpful, especially, if you want to pursue a higher degree in physics, it will be a good starting, it may help you find right field for study. The original article is published in: “Reviews of Modern Physics", Volume 76, July 2004, page: 981-998.