A.F. Ioffe and origin of modern semiconductor thermoelectric energy conversion

A.F.Ioffe as a physicist and organizer of new directions of physical studies in post-revolutionary Russia. His interest in the development of technical applications of basic research. His idea expressed in 1931 concerning a great practical role of semiconductors in future, in particular, for thermoelectric energy conversion. The first investigations of thermoelectric properties of semiconductors carried out at the Physical-Technical Institute. Thermoelectric generators and coolers. A.F.Ioffe's theory of energy application of semiconductors. Ioffe's books on thermoelectricity. The authors are very-grateful to the ICT'98 chairman Prof. K. Koumoto and the Program Committee for such a unique opportunity to present to the highly professional audience of ICT participants some facts concerning the life of Abram Ioffe and development of thermoelectric studies in the USSR. Professor Ioffe was our teacher in science and we are glad to remind of his great contribution to the physics of semiconductors and especially to the physics of thermoelectrics. We hope this information will be of interest to today's thermoelectric community because it is not easily available. We would only like to make a reservation that the text below is neither Ioffe's biography nor the consecutive history of thermoelectrics: it is just a few facts which we have selected.