Aleksandr Viktorovich Gurevich (; 19 September 1930 – 21 July 2023) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Russian physicist. In 1992 he proposed the theory of

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

initiation known as the "

runaway breakdown Runaway breakdown is a theory of lightning initiation proposed by Alex Gurevich in 1992. Electrons in air have a mean free path of ~1 cm. Fast electrons which move at a large fraction of the speed of light have a mean free path up to 100 ti ...

". Gurevich was born on 19 September 1930. He graduated from

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

in 1952. In 1984 he became a Corresponding Member of the

USSR Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (u ...

(

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

since 1991). He was the head of the I. E. Tamm Theoretical Department at the

Lebedev Physical Institute The Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI RAS or just LPI) (in ), situated in Moscow, is a Russian research institute specializing in physics. The institute was established in its present shape in 1934 by academician ...

. From 2010 he was the head of Academic Department of Physics and Astrophysics Problems in Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Aleksandr Gurevich died on 21 July 2023, at the age of 92.Ушёл из жизни Александр Викторович Гуревич 19 сентября 1930 г. - 21 июля 2023 г.

Fields of Research

His work has focused on: *

Plasma kinetics Plasma or plasm may refer to: Science * Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter * Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral * Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics Biology * Blood plas ...

(1955-) * Ionospheric physics (1955-) *

Nonlinear dynamics In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system (or a non-linear system) is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathem ...

of non-collisional plasmas (1963-) * Nonlinear waves in

dispersive hydrodynamics Dispersive may refer to: *Dispersive partial differential equation, a partial differential equation where waves of different wavelength propagate at different phase velocities * Dispersive phase from Biological dispersal *Dispersive medium, a medi ...

(1973-) * Artificial

ionized layers Ionization or ionisation is the process by which an atom or a molecule acquires a negative or positive charge by gaining or losing electrons, often in conjunction with other chemical changes. The resulting electrically charged atom or molecule is ...

in the atmosphere (1977-) * The

electrodynamics In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

neutron star A neutron star is the gravitationally collapsed Stellar core, core of a massive supergiant star. It results from the supernova explosion of a stellar evolution#Massive star, massive star—combined with gravitational collapse—that compresses ...

magnetosphere In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior Dynamo ...

s (1983–1993) * Nonlinear dynamics of

dark matter In astronomy, dark matter is an invisible and hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation. Dark matter is implied by gravity, gravitational effects that cannot be explained by general relat ...

(1988-)

References

External links

Gurevich at I. E. Tamm Laboratory

(abstract) 1930 births 2023 deaths Soviet physicists 20th-century Russian physicists Moscow State University alumni Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Russian scientists {{Russia-mathematician-stub