Matvei Petrovich Bronstein (russian: Матве́й Петро́вич Бронште́йн, ,

Vinnytsia Vinnytsia ( ; uk, Вінниця, ; yi, װיניצע) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast and the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. A ...

– February 18, 1938) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

theoretical

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

, a pioneer of

quantum gravity Quantum gravity (QG) is a field of theoretical physics that seeks to describe gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics; it deals with environments in which neither gravitational nor quantum effects can be ignored, such as in the vi ...

, author of works in

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...

s, quantum electrodynamics and

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...

, as well as of a number of books in

popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

for children.

Career and personal life

Bronstein introduced the ''cGh'' scheme for classifying physical theories, with the aim of unifying

special relativity In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two postulates: # The laws o ...

(denoted by its constant ''c'' (the

speed of light The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted , is a universal physical constant that is important in many areas of physics. The speed of light is exactly equal to ). According to the special theory of relativity, is the upper limit ...

), gravitation (denoted by the

gravitational constant The gravitational constant (also known as the universal gravitational constant, the Newtonian constant of gravitation, or the Cavendish gravitational constant), denoted by the capital letter , is an empirical physical constant involved in ...

''G''), and quantum mechanics (denoted by the

Planck constant The Planck constant, or Planck's constant, is a fundamental physical constant of foundational importance in quantum mechanics. The constant gives the relationship between the energy of a photon and its frequency, and by the mass-energy equivale ...

''h''). He was married to Lydia Chukovskaya, a writer, human rights activist, and a friend of Andrei Sakharov. In August 1937, while he was living in his apartment at 38 Rubinstein Street, St. Petersburg, Bronstein was arrested as part of the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...

. He was convicted by a list trial in February 1938 and executed the same day in a

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

prison. His wife was told that he had been sentenced to 10 years of

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

without the right of correspondence "Without the right of correspondence" (WRC) (russian: Без права переписки, abbreviated as БПП in official documents) was a clause in a sentence of many political repressions victims of Stalinist Great Purges in Soviet Union t ...

. Bronstein's books for children "Solar Matter" (), "X Rays" (), "Inventors of Radio" () were republished after his reputation had been rehabilitated posthumously on 9 May 1957. In 1990, his wife had a monument erected in the

Levashovo Memorial Cemetery Levashovo Memorial Cemetery () commemorates the victims of political repression between 1937 and 1954: some were shot, others died in the city's prisons, all were buried here in unmarked graves. Archival evidence suggests that 19,540 bodies lie ...

where he was thought to have been buried. The Bronstein Prize in

Loop Quantum Gravity Loop quantum gravity (LQG) is a theory of quantum gravity, which aims to merge quantum mechanics and general relativity, incorporating matter of the Standard Model into the framework established for the pure quantum gravity case. It is an attem ...

is offered to post-doctoral scholars in the field, the inaugural winner of which was

Eugenio Bianchi Eugenio Bianchi is an Italian theoretical physicist and assistant professor at the Pennsylvania State University who works on loop quantum gravity and black hole thermodynamics. He has derived the Bekenstein-Hawking formula S=\frac for the ent ...

in 2013.

''Solar Matter''

Samuil Marshak Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (alternative spelling: Marchak) (russian: link=no, Самуил Яковлевич Маршак; 4 July 1964) was a Russian and Soviet writer of Jewish origin, translator and poet who wrote for both children and adults. ...

, a children's writer and editor, scouted Bronstein to write a popular science book for teenagers. Bronstein chose to describe spectral analysis, but it took many attempts as well as Marshak's advice to determine the best plot in which the story could relate a history of helium. ''Solar Matter'' (Солнечное вещество) was first published in the ''Koster'' magazine in 1934 and then in book form in April 1936,. whereupon Bronstein made an inscription on a copy to L. Chukovskaya, his copy editor, “To my dear Lida, without whom I would have never been able to write this book.” Later, Chukovskaya wrote that the history of helium had become intertwined in her and Bronstein's life, “The work on the book brought us closer. In fact, the book got us married."

References

External links

*
Solar Matter
', English translation (2020) by Maggie Kornell {{DEFAULTSORT:Bronstein, Matvei 1906 births 1938 deaths People from Vinnytsia People from Vinnitsky Uyezd Ukrainian Jews Soviet Jews Soviet physicists Russian children's writers Great Purge victims from Ukraine Jews executed by the Soviet Union Soviet rehabilitations Jewish Ukrainian scientists

Career and personal life

''Solar Matter''

References

Further reading

External links