Zhores Alferov, a Russian scientist who won a Nobel prize in physics, has died, Russian news agencies reported on March 2. He was 88.
His wife confirmed his passing.
News reports said he died of cardiopulmonary failure.
The physicist was also a Communist deputy in the lower house of parliament, where Alferov had been a deputy since 1995.
Alferov shared the Nobel prize for physics in 2000 for his work in semiconductor and laser technologies.
At the time, he was the first Russian to win a Nobel since Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was given the peace award in 1990.
The victory provided a boost for the post-Soviet Russian sciences.
In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Alferov noted that physics had brought both benefits and disasters to mankind in the 20th century and warned that the mass media could be abused in the wrong hands.
"Knowledge is power, but power must be based on knowledge," he said.
Alferov was honored for his pioneering work with technology now used in everything from satellites to mobile phones and bar-code scanners.
He shared the award with German-born Herbert Kroemer and Jack Kilby of the United States.
