Aleksandr Evgenievich Chudakov (16 June 1921 – 25 January 2001) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Russian physicist in the field of cosmic-ray physics, known for ''Chudakov Effect'', the effect of decreasing ionization losses for narrow electron-positron pairs and for experimentally confirming existence of the transition radiation. He was also the chairman of the

IUPAP The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP ) is an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to assist in the worldwide development of physics, to foster international cooperation in physics, and to help in the ...

Cosmic Ray Commission.

Biography and scientific career

Aleksandr Chudakov was born on 16 June 1921, and graduated from

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

(MSU) in 1948 . In 1953, his experimental confirmation of the existence of the transition radiation, which was predicted by Ginzburg and

Ilya Frank Ilya Mikhailovich Frank (russian: Илья́ Миха́йлович Франк; 23 October 1908 – 22 June 1990) was a Soviet winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1958 jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Igor Y. Tamm, also of t ...

in 1945, and the effect of decreasing ionization losses for narrow electron-positron pairs, known as the ''Chudakov Effect'', are among Chudakov's famous works. Phenomena similar to Chudakov Effect have been observed in

quantum chromodynamics In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction between quarks mediated by gluons. Quarks are fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion. QCD is a ty ...

also.
Chudakov was the author of series of experiments carried out in the 1950s, which focused on investigation of the

cosmic rays Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our ow ...

outside of the

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. ...

with rockets and first

satellites A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotop ...

. As a result, during the third Soviet sputnik, he discovered the Earth's radiation belts in collaboration with S. N. Vernov.
In 1961, Chudakov and G. T. Zatsepin suggested the air Chernkov method for the

gamma-ray astronomy Gamma-ray astronomy is the astronomical observation of gamma rays,Astronomical literature generally hyphenates "gamma-ray" when used as an adjective, but uses "gamma ray" without a hyphen for the noun. the most energetic form of electromagnet ...

and carried out a pioneering experiment at Katsively,

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

.
From the mid-1960s Chudakov headed the design and construction of the Baksan Underground Scintillation Telescope, which was put into operation in 1978 and considered to be one of the first large multipurpose facilities for underground physics. In

astroparticle physics Astroparticle physics, also called particle astrophysics, is a branch of particle physics that studies elementary particles of astronomical origin and their relation to astrophysics and cosmology. It is a relatively new field of research emerging ...

the first class results have been obtained with this telescope which is still in operation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chudakov Aleksandr Soviet physicists Moscow State University alumni Academic staff of Moscow State University Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences 1921 births 2001 deaths Cosmic ray physicists Russian scientists