20 Facts About Oleg Losev

Oleg Vladimirovich Losev was a Russian scientist and inventor who made significant discoveries in the field of semiconductor junctions and the light emitting diode.

Oleg Losev observed light emission from carborundum point-contact junctions, constructing a light-emitting diode, did the first research on them, proposed the first correct theory of how they worked, and used them in practical applications such as electroluminescence.

Oleg Losev explored negative resistance in semiconductor junctions, and was first to use them practically for amplification, building the first solid-state amplifiers, electronic oscillators, and superheterodyne radio receivers, 25 years before the invention of the transistor.

Oleg Losev was born into a noble family in Tver, Russia.

Oleg Losev's father was a retired captain in the Tsarist Imperial Army, who worked in the office of Tverskoy Vagonostroitelniy Zavod, a local rolling stock factory.

Oleg Losev went to work as a technician at the recently established Nizhny Novgorod Radio Laboratory, the new Soviet government's first radio science laboratory, located in Nizhny Novgorod, where he worked under Vladimir Lebedinsky.

Oleg Losev's interests focused on the point-contact crystal detector, which was used as a demodulator in the first early radio receivers, crystal radios, before powered vacuum tube radios were developed in World War 1.

Oleg Losev was eventually awarded a PhD from the Institute in 1938 without completing a formal thesis, but it came too late to benefit his career.

Oleg Losev died of starvation in 1942, at the age of 38, along with many other civilians, during the Siege of Leningrad by the Germans during World War 2.

Oleg Losev was the first to investigate the effect, propose a theory of how it worked, and envision practical applications.

The series of articles on the LED Oleg Losev published between 1924 and 1941 constitute a thorough study of the device.

Oleg Losev did extensive research into the mechanism of light emission.

Oleg Losev measured rates of evaporation of benzine from the crystal surface and found it was not accelerated when light was emitted, concluding that the luminescence was a "cold" light not caused by thermal effects.

Oleg Losev theorized correctly that the explanation of the light emission was in the new science of quantum mechanics, speculating that it was the inverse of the photoelectric effect explained by Albert Einstein in 1905.

Oleg Losev wrote to Einstein about it, but did not receive a reply.

Oleg Losev developed a practical solid-state silicon carbide light source, which generated light by electroluminescence.

Oleg Losev's papers were cited but his name appeared as Lossew.

Specifically, Oleg Losev patented the "Light Relay" and foresaw its use in telecommunications.

In 1923 Oleg Losev began to research these "oscillating crystals" and discovered that biased zincite crystals could amplify a signal.

Oleg Losev was the first to exploit negative resistance diodes practically; he realized that they could serve as simpler, cheaper replacements for vacuum tubes.