Ivan Gutzow (1933–2020)

By Alex Karamanov

The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and the International Scientific Community in the field of the glassy state recently lost one of its most prominent and respected members on March 23: Ivan Gutzow.

Gutzow was born May 31, 1933. He loved glass science from his earliest schooldays, just like his father, who was director of the first Bulgarian glass production factory in Beloslav (near Varna) and later professor and department head of Silicate Science at the Technical University of Chemistry in Sofia. Gutzow graduated from the Technical University of Chemistry in 1958 and in the same year began working at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IPC-BAS). He advanced from researcher to associate professor to full professor and, finally, to a Real Member (Academician) in 2002.

He began his studies following his teacher, Academician Rostislaw Kaischew, into the new field of glass nucleation and crystallization. The quality of his doctoral thesis was so high that it led directly to a D. Sci award in 1972. In 1997, Gutzow founded the Department of Amorphous materials at IPC- BAS.

His main scientific contributions are in the fields of the thermodynamics of nonequilibrium systems, the kinetics of relaxation and vitrification, and the structure and crystallization of matter in the glassy state. Gutzow worked hard and invested tremendous energy into an extremely precise theory of crystallization in a viscoelastic medium. He succeeded in developing a new treatment for various processes involving heterogeneous nucleation. He experimented on diamond synthesis, kidney stone formation, and crystallization in space.

Gutzow has authored- and co-authored more than 300 authentic scientific papers in the international literature, and his works have been widely recognized among the scientific community worldwide.

Together with Dr. J. W. P. Schmelzer, he wrote the monograph The Vitreous State (Springer Publ., 1st Ed. in 1995 and 2nd ed. in 2013). He also submitted 13 patents, mainly concerning the synthesis of glassy-crystalline materials.

He led various national and international projects and was an invited and plenary speaker at many important international scientific conferences. Under his supervision, 15 Ph.D. students successfully defended their doctoral theses.

Gutzow was nominated for numerous rewards, including the National Prize with a golden medal of the Union of the Scientists in Bulgaria (SBU), a golden medal for contributions to BAS, the International Humboldt Prize, the Honor Sign “Marin Drinov” of BAS, the President’s award of the International Commission on Glass, and many others.

We will always remember Gutzow, a scientist possessing encyclopedic knowledge, a curious and entertaining storyteller, and a first-class lecturer.

 Contact and more information:

Prof J M Parker
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
University of Sheffield
Mappin StreetSheffield, S1 3JD, UK
e-mail: j.m.parker@sheffield.ac.uk

FAX: +44 114 2225943

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