This list of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

s and astrophysicists includes the famous astronomers, astrophysicists and

cosmologist Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wor ...

s from the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, the

Soviet Union 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 the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Alphabetical list

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A

* Tateos Agekian, one of the pioneers of Russian and world

Stellar dynamics Stellar dynamics is the branch of astrophysics which describes in a statistical way the collective motions of stars subject to their mutual gravity. The essential difference from celestial mechanics is that the number of body N \gg 10. Typic ...

, discoverer of two evolutionary sequences of stellar systems: nearly spherical and strongly flattened * Vladimir Albitsky, discovered a significant number of asteroids *

Viktor Ambartsumian Viktor Amazaspovich Ambartsumian (; , ''Viktor Hamazaspi Hambardzumyan''; 12 August 1996) was a Soviet and Armenian astrophysicist and science administrator. One of the 20th century's leading astronomers, he is widely regarded as the founder of ...

, one of the founders of

theoretical 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, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

, discoverer of

stellar associations A stellar association is a very loose star cluster, looser than both open clusters and globular clusters. Stellar associations will normally contain from 10 to 100 or more visible stars. An association is primarily identified by commonalities in i ...

, founder of

Byurakan Observatory The Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory, or Byurakan Observatory () is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Armenian Academy of Sciences. It is located on the slope of Mount Aragats in the village of Byurakan in Armenia. History ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

Andrejs Auzāns Andrejs Auzāns (1871–1953) was a Latvian general and topographer. Auzāns was a major general in the Imperial Russian Army, best known for being the commander of the 7th Bauska Rifleman Regiment and the 2nd Rifleman Brigade. He also served ...

, director of the Tashkent observatory, 1911–1916 Viktor Ambartsumian portrait

B

* Nikolai P. Barabashov, co-author of the ground breaking publication of the first pictures of the far side of the Moon in 1961, called ''Atlas of the Other Side of the Moon''; a crater and a planet were named after him *

Vladimir Belinski Vladimir Alekseevich Belinski (last name is also spelled Belinsky, ; born 26 March 1941) is a Russian and Italian theoretical physicist involved in research in cosmology and general relativity. He worked at Landau Institute for Theoretical Phys ...

, an author of the

BKL singularity A Belinski–Khalatnikov–Lifshitz (BKL) singularity is a model of the dynamic evolution of the universe near the initial gravitational singularity, described by an anisotropic, chaotic solution of the Einstein field equation of gravitation ...

model of the Universe evolution *

Igor Belkovich Igor Vladimirovich Belkovich (Игорь Владимирович Белькович) (October 15, 1904 ( OS: October 2) – May 30, 1949) was a Soviet astronomer. His son Oleg Igorevich Belkovich was also an astronomer. The crater Belkovic ...

, made contributions to astronomy; the crater Bel'kovich on the Moon is named after him *

Aristarkh Belopolsky Aristarkh Apollonovich Belopolsky (Аристарх Аполлонович Белопольский; – 16 May 1934) was a Russian and later Soviet astronomer. He was born in Moscow but his father's ancestors are from a Serbian town called B ...

, invented a

spectrograph An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mate ...

based on the

Doppler effect The Doppler effect (also Doppler shift) is the change in the frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the source of the wave. The ''Doppler effect'' is named after the physicist Christian Doppler, who described ...

, among the first photographers of

stellar spectra Astronomical spectroscopy is the study of astronomy using the techniques of spectroscopy to measure the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, ultraviolet, X-ray, infrared and radio waves that radiate from stars and othe ...

Sergey Belyavsky Sergey Ivanovich Belyavsky (; December 7, 1883 (Julian calendar: November 25) – October 13, 1953) was a Soviet Union, Soviet/Russians, Russian astronomer and a List of minor planet discoverers, discoverer of 36 numbered minor planets. Hi ...

, discovered the bright naked-eye comet C/1911 S3 (Beljawsky); discovered and co-discovered a number of asteroids *

Gennady S. Bisnovatyi-Kogan Gennady Semyonovych Bisnovatyi-Kogan is an astrophysicist. He is known for predicting binary radio pulsars. Bisnovatyi-Kogan was a student at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology from 1958-1964. He was a postgraduate student at Moscow In ...

, first determined the maximum mass of a hot neutron star *

Sergey Blazhko Sergey Nikolayevich Blazhko (; November 17, 1870, Khotsimsk – February 11, 1956, Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet astronomer, a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (1929). He was a graduate of Moscow State Unive ...

, discovered a secondary variation of the amplitude and period of some RR Lyrae stars and related pulsating variables, now known as the Blazhko effect *

Semion Braude Semion Yakovlevich Braude (; 28 January 1911 – 29 June 2003) was a Soviet and Ukrainian physicist and radio astronomer. Of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, Braude was born in Poltava, Ukraine, and pursued his higher education at the National Universi ...

, co-developed large-scale radio interferometers for precise examination of extraterrestrial radio sources * Fyodor Bredikhin, developed the theory of

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

tails,

meteor A meteor, known colloquially as a shooting star, is a glowing streak of a small body (usually meteoroid) going through Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air molecules in the upper atmosphere, creating a ...

s and

meteor shower A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at ext ...

s, a director of the

Pulkovo Observatory The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Pulkovo, is the principal astronomical observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is located 19 km south ...

Matvei Petrovich Bronstein Matvei Petrovich Bronstein (, – February 18, 1938) was a Soviet theoretical physicist, a pioneer of quantum gravity, author of works in astrophysics, semiconductors, quantum electrodynamics and cosmology, as well as of a number of books in pop ...

, theoretical physicist; pioneer of quantum gravity; author of works in astrophysics, semiconductors, quantum electrodynamics and cosmology * Jacob Bruce, statesman, naturalist and astronomer, founder of the first

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

in Russia (in the

Sukharev Tower The Sukharev Tower (Сухарева башня) was a Moscow landmark until its destruction by Soviet authorities in 1934. Tsar Peter I of Russia had the tower built in the Moscow baroque style at the intersection of the Garden Ring with Srete ...

)

C

Lyudmila Chernykh Lyudmila Ivanivna Chernykh (; ; June 13, 1935 – July 28, 2017) was a Ukrainian- Russian-Soviet astronomer, wife and colleague of Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, and a prolific discoverer of minor planets. Professional career Chernykh was bo ...

, astronomer, discovered 268

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s *

Nikolai Chernykh Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Черны́х, , nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnɨx, links=yes; 6 October 1931 – 25 May 2004Казакова, Р.К. Памяти Николая Сте ...

, astronomer, discovered 537 asteroids and two comets * Aleksandr Chudakov, co-discoverer of the Earth's

radiation belt The Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind, that are captured by and held around a planet by that planet's magnetosphere. Earth has two such belts, and sometimes others ma ...

D

Denis Denisenko Denis Denisenko (born January 16, 1971) is a Russian astronomer of the late 20th – early 21st century, discoverer of 10 supernovae, more than 150 variable stars, an asteroid, and a comet. Biography Born in 1971 in Moscow, Denisenko graduated ...

, astronomer, author of more than 25 scientific articles and a presenter at five international conferences *

A. G. Doroshkevich Andrei Georgievich Doroshkevich (, born 1937) is a Russian (and former Soviet) theoretical astrophysicist and cosmologist, head of the laboratory on the physics of the early universe at the Lebedev Physical Institute. He is best known for his ...

, along with Igor Novikov, discovered cosmic microwave background radiation as a detectable phenomenon *

Alexander Dubyago Alexander Dmitriyevich Dubyago (Russian: ''Александр Дмитриевич Дубяго;'' December 5 (18), 1903, Kazan - October 29, 1959, Kazan) was a Soviet astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who fo ...

, expert in theoretical astrophysics; the lunar crater Dubyago is named after him and his father, Dmitry Ivanovich Dubyago * Dmitry Dubyago, expert in theoretical astrophysics, astrometry, and gravimetry; a crater on the Moon is named after him and his son

E

* Vasily Engelhardt, researched comets, asteroids, nebulae, and star clusters, in an observatory he built himself

F

* Vasily Fesenkov, founded the Alma-Ata (now

Tien Shan The Tian Shan, also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in Central Asia. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu at high and located in Kyrgyzstan. Its lowest point is ...

) astrophysical observatory, and was the first to make a study of Zodiacal light using photometry, and suggested a theory of its dynamics *

Kirill Florensky Kirill Pavlovich Florensky (; 27 December 1915 – 9 April 1982) was a Russian Soviet geochemist and planetologist. He was head of comparative planetology at the Vernadsky Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He was the second son ...

, head of Comparative Planetology at the Vernadsky Institute of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences; the crater Florensky on the Moon is named after him *

Alexander Friedmann Alexander Alexandrovich Friedmann (also spelled Friedman or Fridman; ; ; – September 16, 1925) was a Russian and Soviet physicist and mathematician. He originated the pioneering theory that the universe is expanding, governed by a set of eq ...

, mathematician and cosmologist, discovered the expanding-universe

solution Solution may refer to: * Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another * Solution (equation), in mathematics ** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds * Solu ...

to the

general relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity, and as Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of grav ...

field equations A classical field theory is a physical theory that predicts how one or more fields in physics interact with matter through field equations, without considering effects of quantization; theories that incorporate quantum mechanics are called qua ...

.; authored the FLRW metric of

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

Alexei Fridman Alexey Maksimovich Fridman (; 17 February 1940 – 29 October 2010) was a Soviet and Russian physicist specializing in astrophysics, physics of gravitating systems and plasma physics. He discovered new types of instabilities in gravitating media ...

, predicted existence of smaller satellites around

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...

G

George Gamow George Gamow (sometimes Gammoff; born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov; ; 4 March 1904 – 19 August 1968) was a Soviet and American polymath, theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He was an early advocate and developer of Georges Lemaître's Big Ba ...

, theoretical physicist and cosmologist, discovered alpha decay via quantum tunneling and

Gamow factor The Gamow factor, Sommerfeld factor or Gamow–Sommerfeld factor, named after physicists George Gamow or after Arnold Sommerfeld, is a probability factor for two nuclear particles' chance of overcoming the Coulomb barrier in order to undergo nucl ...

stellar nucleosynthesis In astrophysics, stellar nucleosynthesis is the creation of chemical elements by nuclear fusion reactions within stars. Stellar nucleosynthesis has occurred since the original creation of hydrogen, helium and lithium during the Big Bang. As a ...

, introduced the

Big Bang nucleosynthesis In physical cosmology, Big Bang nucleosynthesis (also known as primordial nucleosynthesis, and abbreviated as BBN) is a model for the production of light nuclei, deuterium, 3He, 4He, 7Li, between 0.01s and 200s in the lifetime of the universe ...

theory, predicted

cosmic microwave background The cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR), or relic radiation, is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dar ...

Vitaly Ginzburg Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg ForMemRS (; – 8 November 2009) was a Russian physicist who was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003, together with Alexei Abrikosov and Anthony Leggett for their "pioneering contributions to the theory ...

, co-developed the theory of superconductivity, the theory of electromagnetic wave propagation in plasmas, and a theory of the origin of cosmic radiation *

Sergey Glazenap Sergey Pavlovich Glazenap (; 13(25) September 1848 - 12 April 1937) was a Russian Empire, Russian and Soviet Union, Soviet astronomer, honorary member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1929), and Hero of Socialist Labor (1932). In some publicati ...

, astronomer; a crater on the Moon and the minor planet

857 Glasenappia 857 Glasenappia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was named after Russian astronomer Sergey Glazenap, who was often referred to as "S. de Glasenapp" in pre-Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fu ...

are named after him * Alexander A. Gurshtein, developed a concept of history of constellations and the zodiac *

Matvey Gusev Matvey Matveyevich Gusev () (, Vyatka, Russia–, Berlin, Germany) was a Russian astronomer who worked at Pulkovo Observatory near St. Petersburg from 1850 to 1852 and then at Vilnius Observatory. In 1860 he founded the first scienti ...

, the first to prove the non-sphericity of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

, pioneer of photography in astronomy

I

* Naum Idelson, astronomer

J

Benjamin Jekhowsky Benjamin Jekhowsky (; born 1881 in Saint-Petersburg, Russia – died in 1975, Encausse-les-Thermes,France) was a Russian-French astronomer, born in Saint-Petersburg in a noble family of a Russian railroad official. After attending Moscow Univ ...

, discovered a number of asteroids; made more than 190 scientific publications; the asteroid

1606 Jekhovsky Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number) *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen * ''Sixteen'' (20 ...

is named after him

K

Lyudmila Karachkina Lyudmila Georgievna Karachkina (, born 3 September 1948, Rostov-on-Don) is an astronomer and discoverer of minor planets. In 1978 she began as a staff astronomer of the Institute for Theoretical Astronomy (ITA) at Leningrad. Her research at the ...

, discovered a number of asteroids, including the Amor asteroid

5324 Lyapunov 53 may refer to: * 53 (number) * one of the years 53 BC, AD 53, 1953, 2053 * FiftyThree, an American privately held technology company that specializes in tools for mobile creation and visual thinking * 53rd Regiment Alabama Cavalry * 53rd Regiment ...

, 10031 Vladarnolda and the Trojan asteroid

3063 Makhaon 3063 Makhaon is a large Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 4 August 1983, by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnij, on the Crimean peninsula. ...

Nikolai Kardashev Nikolai Semyonovich Kardashev (, ; April 25, 1932 – August 3, 2019) was a Soviet and Russian astrophysicist best known for the Kardashev scale, which measures a civilization's status in technological evolution based on the amount of energy i ...

, astrophysicist, inventor of

Kardashev scale The Kardashev scale () is a method of measuring a civilization's level of technology, technological advancement based on the amount of energy it is capable of harnessing and using. The measure was proposed by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev i ...

for ranking the space civilizations *

Isaak Khalatnikov Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov (, ; 17 October 1919 – 9 January 2021) was a leading Soviet theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to many areas of theoretical physics, including general relativity, quantum field theory, as well ...

, an author of the

model of the Universe evolution *

Viktor Knorre Viktor Karlovich Knorre (; 4 October 1840 – 25 August 1919) was a Russian astronomer of German ethnic origin. He worked in Nikolaev, Pulkovo and Berlin and is best known for having discovered 158 Koronis and three other minor planets. Knorre's ...

, astronomer, discovered four asteroids * Marian Kowalski, first to measure the rotation of the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev Nikolai Alexandrovich Kozyrev (; 2 September 1908 – 27 February 1983) was a Soviet Russian astronomer and astrophysicist. Biography He was born in Saint Petersburg, and by 1928 he had graduated from the Leningrad State University. In 1931 he b ...

, astronomer, observed the transient lunar phenomenon * Georgij A. Krasinsky, astronomer, researched planetary motions and ephemeris * Feodosy Krasovsky, astronomer and geodesist; measured the Krasovsky ellipsoid, a coordinate system used in the

USSR 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 the post-Soviet states *

Yevgeny Krinov Yevgeny Leonidovich Krinov () (3 March 1906 – 2 January 1984), D.G.S., was a Soviet Russian astronomer and geologist, born in Otyassy () village in the Morshansky District of the Tambov Governorate of the Russian Empire. Krinov was a renow ...

, astronomer, renowned meteorite researcher; the mineral Krinovite, discovered in 1966, was named after him

L

Anders Johan Lexell Anders Johan Lexell (24 December 1740 – ) was a Finnish-Swedish astronomer, mathematician, and physicist who spent most of his life in Imperial Russia, where he was known as Andrei Ivanovich Leksel (Андрей Иванович Лексе ...

, astronomer and mathematician; researcher of

celestial mechanics Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to ...

and comet astronomy; proved that Uranus is a planet rather than a comet *

Andrei Linde Andrei Dmitriyevich Linde (; born March 2, 1948) is a Russian-American theoretical physicist and the Harald Trap Friis Professor of Physics at Stanford University. Linde is one of the main authors of the inflationary universe theory, as well ...

, created the Universe chaotic inflation theory *

Evgeny Lifshitz Evgeny Mikhailovich Lifshitz (; ; 21 February 1915 – 29 October 1985) was a leading Soviet physicist and brother of the physicist Ilya Lifshitz. Work Born into a Ukrainian Jewish family in Kharkov, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire (now K ...

, an author of the

model of the Universe evolution *

Mikhail Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; , ; – ) was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries were the atmosphere of Venus and the law of conservation of ...

polymath, inventor of the

off-axis reflecting telescope A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...

, discoverer of the

atmosphere of Venus The atmosphere of Venus is the very dense layer of gases surrounding the planet Venus. Venus's atmosphere is composed of 96.5% carbon dioxide and 3.5% nitrogen, with other chemical compounds present only in trace amounts. It is much denser and ho ...

Mikhail Lyapunov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lyapunov () was a Russian astronomer and a head of the Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl. He was the father of Aleksandr and Sergei Lyapunov Sergei Mikhailovich Lyapunov (or Liapunov; , ; 8 November 1924) was a Russian comp ...

, astronomer * Kronid Lyubarsky, worked on the Soviet program of interplanetary exploration of Mars

M

Benjamin Markarian Benjamin Egishevich Markarian () was an Armenian astrophysicist. Markarian's Chain is a group of galaxies which was named after him when he discovered that its members move with a common motion. He is also the namesake of a catalog of compact, o ...

, discovered

Markarian's Chain Markarian's Chain is a stretch of galaxies that forms part of the Virgo Cluster. When viewed from Earth, the galaxies lie along a smoothly curved line. Charles Messier first discovered two of the galaxies, M84 and M86, in 1781. The other galaxi ...

Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov Dmitry Dmitrievich Maksutov (; – 12 August 1964) was a Soviet Union, Soviet Optical engineering, optical engineer and amateur astronomer. He is best known as the inventor of the Maksutov telescope. Biography Dmitry Dmitriyevich Maksutov was b ...

, inventor of the

Maksutov telescope 250px, A 150mm aperture Maksutov–Cassegrain telescope The Maksutov (also called a "Mak") is a catadioptric telescope design that combines a spherical mirror with a weakly negative meniscus lens in a design that takes advantage of all the sur ...

* Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Mikhailov, credited with leading the post-war revival of the

* Nikolay Moiseyev, expert in

, worked on mathematical methods of celestial calculations and theory of comet formation

N

Grigory Neujmin Grigory Nikolayevich Neujmin (; – 17 December 1946) was a Georgian–Russian astronomer, native of Tbilisi in Georgia (country), Georgia, and a discoverer of numerous minor planets as well as 6 periodic comet, periodic and a List of hyperbolic ...

, discovered 74 asteroids, and most notably

951 Gaspra 951 Gaspra is an S-type asteroid, S-type asteroid that orbits very close to the inner edge of the asteroid belt. Gaspra was discovered by Russian astronomer G. N. Neujmin in 1916. Neujmin named it after Gaspra, a Black Sea retreat that was visite ...

and 762 Pulcova *

Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov (; born November 10, 1935) is a Russian (and former Soviet) theoretical astrophysicist and cosmologist. Novikov put forward the idea of white holes in 1964. He also formulated the Novikov self-consistency principle i ...

, formulated the

Novikov self-consistency principle The Novikov self-consistency principle, also known as the Novikov self-consistency conjecture and Larry Niven's law of conservation of history, is a principle developed by Russian physicist Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov in the mid-1980s. Novikov inte ...

, an important contribution to the theory of

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

* Boris Numerov, created various astronomic and mineralogical instruments, as well as various algorithms and methods that bear his name

P

Pavel Petrovich Parenago Pavel Petrovich Parenago (, 20 March 1906 – 5 January 1960) was a Soviet scientist, astronomer, and professor. He served as the head of the Department of Stellar Astronomy at M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University and a Corresponding Member of ...

, known for contributions to the field of

galactic astronomy Galactic astronomy is the study of the Milky Way galaxy and all its contents. This is in contrast to extragalactic astronomy, which is the study of everything outside our galaxy, including all other galaxies. Galactic astronomy should not be con ...

* Yevgeny Perepyolkin, observed the proper motion of stars with respect to extragalactic nebula * Solomon Pikelner, made a significant contribution to the theory of the interstellar medium, solar plasma physics, stellar atmospheres, and magnetohydrodynamics * Elena V. Pitjeva, expert in the field of Solar System dynamics and celestial mechanics

S

Viktor Safronov Viktor Sergeevich Safronov () (born Velikie Luki; 11 October 1917 in Russia – 18 September 1999 in Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet astronomer who put forward the low-mass-nebula model of planet formation, a consistent picture of how the planets for ...

, astronomer and cosmologist, author of the

planetesimal Planetesimals () are solid objects thought to exist in protoplanetary disks and debris disks. Believed to have formed in the Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago, they aid study of its formation. Formation A widely accepted theory of pla ...

hypothesis of

planet formation The nebular hypothesis is the most widely accepted model in the field of cosmogony to explain the formation and evolution of the Solar System (as well as other planetary systems). It suggests the Solar System is formed from gas and dust orbiting t ...

Kaspar Gottfried Schweizer Kaspar Gottfried Schweizer (16 February 1816 – 6 July 1873) was a Swiss astronomer who travelled to Moscow in 1845 to become Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at the Survey Institute, and later director of the Moscow University Observatory. ...

, discovered five comets, and found one NGC object * Andrei Severny, known for his work on

solar flares A solar flare is a relatively intense, localized emission of electromagnetic radiation in the Stellar atmosphere, Sun's atmosphere. Flares occur in active regions and are often, but not always, accompanied by coronal mass ejections, solar partic ...

and astronomical observations from artificial satellites * Nikolai Shakura, developed theory of accretion and astrophysics of

x-ray binaries An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelengt ...

, co-developed the standard theory of disk accretion * Grigory Shayn, astronomer and astrophysicist, the first director of the

Crimean Astrophysical Observatory The Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (CrAO, obs. code: 095) is located at Nauchnij research campus, near the Central Crimean city of Bakhchysarai, on the Crimean peninsula. CrAO is often called simply by its location and campus name ...

, co-developed a method for measurement of

stellar rotation Stellar rotation is the angular motion of a star about its axis. The rate of rotation can be measured from the spectrum of the star, or by timing the movements of active features on the surface. The rotation of a star produces an equatorial bu ...

* Inna Shcherbina-Samoylova, astronomer and astrophysicist, specialist in information science, editor and translator * Vladislav Shevchenko, astronomer, specialized in lunar exploration *

Iosif Shklovsky Iosif Samuilovich Shklovsky (sometimes transliterated ''Josif, Josif, Shklovskii, Shklovskij''; ; 1 July 1916 – 3 March 1985) was a Soviet astronomer and astrophysicist. He is remembered for his work in theoretical astrophysics and other topi ...

, astronomer and astrophysicist, author of several discoveries in the fields of

radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies Astronomical object, celestial objects using radio waves. It started in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observat ...

and

cosmic rays Cosmic rays or astroparticles 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 ...

extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life, or alien life (colloquially, aliens), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms ...

researcher * Tamara Mikhaylovna Smirnova, co-discovered the periodic comet 74P/Smirnova-Chernykh, along with

Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Черны́х, , nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnɨx, links=yes; 6 October 1931 – 25 May 2004Казакова, Р.К. Памяти Николая Сте ...

; discovered various asteroids; the asteroid 5540 Smirnova was named in her honor * Friedrich Wilhelm Struve, astronomer and geodesist, founder and the first director of the

, prominent researcher and discoverer of new

double stars In observational astronomy, a double star or visual double is a pair of stars that appear close to each other as viewed from Earth, especially with the aid of optical telescopes. This occurs because the pair either forms a binary star (i.e. a ...

, initiated the construction of 2,820 km long

Struve Geodetic Arc The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through ten countries and over , which yielded the first accurate measurement of a meridian arc. The chain was established ...

, progenitor of the

Struve family The Struve family (pronounced in German, in Russian) were a Baltic nobility, Baltic German noble family of Eastphalian origin and originated in Magdeburg, the family produced five generations of astronomers from the 18th to 20th centuries. Membe ...

of astronomers * Otto Lyudvigovich Struve, astronomer and astrophysicist, co-developed a method for measurement of

, directed several observatories in the U.S. *

Nadezhda Sytinskaya Nadezhda Nikolaevna Sytinskaya (Russian language, Russian: Надежда Николаевна Сытинская; 22 February 1906 – 4 July 1974) was a Soviet Union, Soviet Astronomer and academic originally from Tallinn who studied meteoroid ...

, planetary scientist known for co-developing the meteor slag theory of lunar surface regolith PGRS 2 081 Struve - crop

Otto Wilhelm von Struve Otto Wilhelm von Struve (May 7, 1819 (Julian calendar: April 25) – April 14, 1905) was a Russian astronomer of Baltic German origins. In Russian, his name is normally given as Otto Vasil'evich Struve (Отто Васильевич Струве). ...

, astronomer, director of the

, discovered over 500

Rashid Sunyaev Rashid Alievich Sunyaev (, ; born 1 March 1943 in Tashkent, USSR) is a German, Soviet, and Russian astrophysicist of Tatar descent. He got his MS degree from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in 1966. He became a professor ...

, astrophysicist, co-predicted the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect of CMB distortion

T

* Gavriil Tikhov, invented the feathering spectrograph; one of the first to use color filters to increase the contrast of surface details on planets

V

George Volkoff George Michael Volkoff, (February 23, 1914 – April 24, 2000) was a Russian-Canadian physicist and academic who helped, with J. Robert Oppenheimer, predict the existence of neutron stars before they were discovered. Early life He was born ...

, predicted the existence of

neutron stars A neutron star is the gravitationally collapsed core of a massive supergiant star. It results from the supernova explosion of a massive star—combined with gravitational collapse—that compresses the core past white dwarf star density to th ...

Boris Vorontsov-Velyaminov Boris Aleksandrovich Vorontsov-Velyaminov (; February 14, 1904 – January 27, 1994) was a Russian astrophysicist. His name is sometimes given as Vorontsov-Vel'yaminov. He independently discovered the absorption of light by interstellar dus ...

, discovered the absorption of light by

interstellar dust Cosmic dustalso called extraterrestrial dust, space dust, or star dustis dust that occurs in outer space or has fallen onto Earth. Most cosmic dust particles measure between a few molecules and , such as micrometeoroids (30 μm). Cosmic dust can ...

, author of the ''

Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies The Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies (MCG) or Morfologiceskij Katalog Galaktik, is a Russian catalogue of 30,642 galaxies compiled by Boris Vorontsov-Velyaminov and V. P. Arkhipova. It is based on scrutiny of prints of the Palomar Sky Surv ...

'' * Alexander Vyssotsky, created first list of nearby stars identified not by their motions in the sky, but by their intrinsic, spectroscopic, characteristics

Y

Avenir Aleksandrovich Yakovkin Avenir Aleksandrovich Yakovkin (Авенир Александрович Яковкин; 1887–1974) was a Soviet astronomer. He was born in Blagoveshchensk, Bashkortostan and graduated from the Kazan University in 1910. From 1928 to 1931 he ...

, astronomer * Ivan Yarkovsky, discovered the YORP and

Yarkovsky effect The Yarkovsky effect is a force acting on a rotating body in space caused by the anisotropic emission of thermal photons, which carry momentum. It is usually considered in relation to meteoroids or small asteroids (about 10 cm to 10 km ...

s of

meteoroid A meteoroid ( ) is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are distinguished as objects significantly smaller than ''asteroids'', ranging in size from grains to objects up to wide. Objects smaller than meteoroids are classifie ...

s or asteroids *

Ivan Naumovich Yazev Ivan Naumovich Yazev (; 28 September 1895 18 April 1955) was a Soviet astronomer, geodesist, and professor. Born to a peasant family in Russia, he spawned a dynasty of Russian astronomers, including , who served as the head of Irkutsk State Uni ...

, astronomer and professor, worked at the

and the

Mykolaiv Observatory Mykolaiv Observatory (full name: ''Research Institute “Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory”'', ) is an astronomical observatory in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. History Naval Observatory (1821–1912) Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory was founded in 182 ...

and later headed the observatory at

Irkutsk State University Irkutsk State University () was founded in October 1918 in Irkutsk, Siberia. Nowadays Irkutsk State University is a scientific and educational institution training students in humanities, natural, technical and applied sciences. ISU facilities ...

from 1948 until 1955.

Z

* Aleksandr Zaitsev, coined the term ''

Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence A message is a unit of communication that conveys information from a sender to a receiver. It can be transmitted through various forms, such as spoken or written words, signals, or electronic data, and can range from simple instructions to co ...

'', conducted the first intercontinental

radar astronomy Radar astronomy is a technique of observing nearby astronomical objects by reflecting radio waves or microwaves off target objects and analyzing their reflections. Radar astronomy differs from ''radio astronomy'' in that the latter is a passive ob ...

experiment, transmitted the Cosmic Calls and Teen Age Message * Yakov Zel'dovich, physicist, astrophysicist and cosmologist, the first to suggest that

accretion disc An accretion disk is a structure (often a circumstellar disk) formed by diffuse material in orbital motion around a massive central body. The central body is most frequently a star. Friction, uneven irradiance, magnetohydrodynamic effects, and ...

s around massive

black hole A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...

s are responsible for the

quasar A quasar ( ) is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...

radiation, co-predicted the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect of CMB distortion Sunyaev

* Abram Leonidovich Zelmanov, astronomer * Sergei Alexandrovich Zhevakin, identified ionized helium as the valve for the heat engine that drives the pulsation of

Cepheid variable A Cepheid variable () is a type of variable star that pulsates radially, varying in both diameter and temperature. It changes in brightness, with a well-defined stable period (typically 1–100 days) and amplitude. Cepheids are important cosmi ...

stars *

Lyudmila Zhuravlyova Lyudmila Vasilyevna Zhuravleva (, ; born 22 May 1946) is a Soviet, Russian and Ukrainian astronomer, who worked at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnij, where she discovered 213 minor planets. She also serves as president of the Cr ...

, discovered a number of asteroids; ranked 43rd by Harvard University's list of those who discovered minor planets; credited with having discovered 200 such bodies * Felix Ziegel, author of more than 40 popular books on astronomy and space exploration, generally regarded as a founder of Russian

ufology Ufology, sometimes written UFOlogy ( or ), is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary claims, extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial hypothesis, extrate ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Russian Astronomers And Astrophysicists

Astrophysicists The following is a list of astronomers, astrophysics, astrophysicists and other notable people who have made contributions to the field of astronomy. They may have won major prizes or awards, developed or invented widely used techniques or techno ...

Astronomers An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either observ ...

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Astrophysics

Russian astronomers This list of Russian astronomers and astrophysicists includes the famous astronomers, astrophysicists and cosmologists from the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. Alphabetical list __NOTOC__ A * Tateos Agekian, one ...

Alphabetical list

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See also

References