Zhores Ivanovich Alferov was born in Vitebsk, Byelorussia, USSR on March 15, 1930. In 1947, he graduated from high school (Minsk, Byelorussia) and in 1952, he graduated from the Department of Electronics of the V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin) Electrotechnical Institute in Leningrad. He has been a member of the scientific staff of the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1953, where he has held the following positions: junior scientist (1953-1964), senior scientist (1964-1967), head of laboratory (1967-1987), director of the Institute (1987 - 2003), scientific director of the Institute (2003-2006), scientific director of the Center for the Physics of Nanoheterostructures (2006-present), and chairman of the St. Petersburg Physics and Technology Center for Research and Educational of the RAS (2004-present).
Professor Alferov has two scientific degrees: candidate of science in technology (1961) and doctorate in physics and mathematics (1970) - both from the Ioffe Institute. In 1970-1971 he spent 6 months as visiting scientist at the University of Illinois, USA. He has worked in the area of III-V semiconductor heterostructures since 1962. His outstanding contributions to the physics and technology of III-V semiconductor heterostructures, especially injection properties, development of lasers, solar cells, LEDs, and epitaxial processes, led to the creation of modern heterostructure physics and electronics. For his achievements in these areas Professor Alferov has received numerous Soviet, Russian and International awards.

Major awards
Franklin Institute Ballantyne Medal (USA, 1971); Lenin Prize (USSR, 1972); Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize (1978); State Prize (USSR, 1984); Award and Heinrich Welker Medal of the International Symposium on GaAs and related compounds (1987); A.P. Karpinskii Prize (Federal Germany, 1989); A.F. Ioffe Prize (Russian Academy of Sciences, 1996); Demidov Prize (Russian Federation, 1999); A. S. Popov Medal (Russian Academy of Sciences, 2000); Nick Holonyak Jr. Award (Optical Society of America, 2000); Nobel Prize (Sweden, 2000), Kyoto Prize (Inamori Foundation, Japan, 2001); State Prize (Russian Federation, 2001); V. I. Vernadskiy Award (NAS Ukraine, 2001); Golden Plate Award (Academy of Achievement, USA, 2002); Golden Medal of the International Society for Optical Engineering (2002); Global Energy Prize (Russian Federation, 2005).

Memberships and titles
Professor Alferov is full member (Academician) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1979); Life Fellow of the Franklin Institute (USA, 1971); honorary professor of Havana University (1987); foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of German Democratic Republic (1987); foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1988); foreign associate of the National Academy of Engineering (USA, 1990) and National Academy of Sciences (USA, 1990); foreign member of the Byelorussian Academy of Sciences (1995); honorary foreign member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (1995); honorary doctor of the Kurchatov Institute (Moscow, 1998); foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences (Ukraine, 2000); honorary member of the National Academy of Sciences (Moldova, 2000); fellow and chartered physicist of the Institute of Physics (UK, 2000); doctor honoris causa (Moscow State University, 2001); doctor honoris causa at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (Spain, 2001); foreign member of the Spanish Engineering Academy (2001); honorary member of the Russian Academy of Education (Moscow, 2001); honorary fellow of the Institute of Physics (Singapore, 2001); honorary doctor of the Japanese Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Japan, 2002); honorary professor at Nanjing University (China, 2002); doctor honoris cousa of Plovdiv University (Bulgaria, 2002); foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Bulgaria, 2002); doctor honoris causa at the Universidad Nacinal de Engenieria (Peru, 2002); doctor honoris causa at the Pedagogico San Marcos (Peru, 2002); doctor honoris causa ar the University of Turku (Finland, 2003); foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences (Lithuania, 2003); honorary doctor of Kiev Polytechnic Institute (Ukraine, 2004); honorary professor at San Cristobel University (Venezuela, 2004); foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences (Azerbaijan, 2004); foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of the Forty (Accademia Nazionale Delle Scienze detta dei XL) (Rome, 2005); foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences (Republic of Kazakhstan, 2005); honorary professor of the State University of Ul’yanovsk (2005); honorary doctor of the State Technical University of Archangel’sk (2006); doctor honoris cousa of the University of Havana (Cuba, 2006); doctor of science honoris cousa of the University of St. Andrews (Scotland, 2006); honorary degree of doctor of laws from University of Dundee (Scotland, 2006); doctor honoris causa from the University of Oulu (Finland, 2006); foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences (Cuba, 2006); foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences(China, 2007); honorary doctor of Doneck National University (Ukraine, 2007); honorary member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Salzburg, 2007).

An asteroid was named after Zhores Alferov in 2001.

Professor Alferov has been a member of the Committee of Science and Education of the Russian State Duma since 1995.