Physicist. Yakov Frenkel gained recognition as a Soviet physicist. He worked closely with 1956 Nobel Prize for Physics recipient Nikolay Semyonov . In 1925, the two scientists researched kinetics of condensation and adsorption of vapors. For earlier research, he was nominated twice for the Nobel candidacy. Born the oldest child into a Jewish family in the Russian Empire, his family lived in Switzerland for a time during his childhood. Before his marriage, his father was sent for six years to internal exile to Siberia for being outspoken about politics. While still in high school, he did research in physics on the earth's magnetic field and atmospheric electricity, writing a 100-page mathematical paper that rediscovered many results of the calculus of finite differences. Later Frenkel wrote a 300-page exposition paper on the origin of the Earth's magnetism and atmospheric electricity, which was seen by a physics professor at St. Petersburg University, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe. After graduating from high school with gold honors, he visited the United States in the summer of 1913 as the quota for Jewish students had been met for that semester. After entering St. Petersburg University in the winter semester of 1913, he graduated three years later. Remaining at St. Petersburg University, he prepared for his master's degree examination, which was delayed by the October Revolution of 1917. His first scientific paper was published in 1917. After graduating, he went to Tavrichesky University in Yalta, Crimea to teach. The living conditions were awful as there was no fuel or food in Crimea, at that point, he decided to return to St. Petersburg. In 1921 until his death, he held a position at the Physico-Technical Institute. He was a prolific author. Beginning in 1922, he published a book virtually every year, which was amazing to the scientific community in Russia as well as in Europe. In 1924 he published 16 papers of which 5 were basically German translations of his other publications in Russian, three books, and edited multiple translations. He used the name Jacob Ilich Frenkel, Jacov Frenkel or J. Frenkel in his English publications. Frenkel published in 1924 the first paper devoted to quantum theory of metals. He was a pioneer in the writing of original Russian handbooks on modern theoretical physics. Focusing on the quantum theory, he traveled with a Rockefeller Scholarship to Germany in 1925 for a year to study, visiting several universities, meeting with Albert Einstein in Berlin. He learned that one of his texts was required reading for Dr Arnold Sommerfeld's German students , of which many would eventually receive the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1927, he was well-received at the International Congress of Physicists in Italy. For his distinguished scientific service, he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Science in 1929, in 1934 he became a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences. He returned to the United States during the 1930s as a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota. He made a host of discoveries: The Frenkel defect became firmly established in the physics of solids and liquids. The Frenkel line is a line of change of thermodynamics, dynamics and structure of fluids, such as from solid, to liquid, then to vapor. His theory, now known as the Frenkel-Kontorova Model, is an important study in plastic dislocation. He first proposed in 1931 the attraction of atoms as "exciton," a commonly used word today in science. The Frenkel-Poole emission is a model describing the mechanism of trap-assisted electron transport in an electrical insulator. He published a paper on this in 1938, extending the theory previously developed by Irish physicist H. H. PooleIndependently of others, he developed a theory which explains the process of splitting as the result of the electrocapillary oscillation of electrically charged drops of nucleic liquid. In 1939 he published a paper on using ultrasound for treatment of cancer. During World War II, the institute was evacuated. He fled with his family to Kazan in the countryside for safety. During 1942 to 1943 he finished one of his best books, "Kinetic Theory of Liquids." After the war, he returned to St. Petersburg, which was now renamed Leningrad, and resumed his teaching and research at the Polytechnic Institute. Along with other scientists, he received the Labor Red Banner Order in 1945. For his research in the "Kinetic Theory of Liquids," he was awarded the First Grade State Prize in 1947. Then he was caught in JosephStalin's rigid isolation politics, being accused publicly by trusted colleagues and the director of the institution of being unpatriotic as his books were being published in Germany, England, and the United States before being published in the Soviet Union. The government was questioning his relationship with the scientific community outside of Russia. The allegations were compounded with the fact that he was Jewish. This intense political and religious persecution affected him greatly, yet this was happening to thousands of other Russians. After this, his work declined as he did not have the support of his colleagues and his health deteriorated, dying before his 58th birthday. He left a widow and two sons, Sergei and Viktor. Although many of his colleagues and students would eventually receive a Nobel Prize for their research, his early death removed him from the candidacy list as the award is only given to the living. His son Viktor is recognized as a Russian historian author, writing many of the biographies of scientists, and publishing his father's biography in 1996, which has been translated to English. A memorial plaque in his honor adorns the wall of the main building of the Physico-Technical Institute. He is remembered for his many scientific discoveries, for authoring many text books, and for the important role he played in establishing physics institutions in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s and 1930s