Il'ya Mikaylovich Frank was born on October 23, 1908, in Leningrad. He was the second son of Mikhail Luydvigovic Frank, a professor of mathematics, and Yelizaveta Mikhailovna Gratsianova Frank, a physician. Frank earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Moscow State University in 1930. Frank's specialization at Moscow State University was photoluminescence of solutions--substances that emit light without an external source acting upon them. He began his career at the State Optical Institute in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), where he undertook a study of light-induced chemical reactions. It resulted in his being granted a doctorate in physical and mathematical sciences in 1935.

Following his graduation, Frank was invited by S. I. Vavilov, his former teacher at Moscow State University, to become a member of the newly established P. N. Lebedev Institute in Moscow where he remained for the rest of his academic career. Shortly thereafter, a colleague at the Lebedev Institute, Pavel...