Viktor Safronov
Viktor Sergeevich Safronov (Russian: Ви́ктор Серге́евич Сафро́нов) (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 formed from a disk of gas and dust around the Sun.
Biography and legacy
Safronov graduated from
His planetesimal hypothesis of planet formation is still widely accepted among astronomers, although alternative theories exist (such as the gravitational fragmentation of the protoplanetary disk directly into planets).
A
The 1999 BBC documentary miniseries The Planets discusses Safronov's work at length.
Awards
- USSR Academy of SciencesPrize (1974)
- Leonard Prize Meteoritical Society (1989)
- Kuiper Prizein Planetary Science (1990)
List of selected publications
- Evolution of the Protoplanetary Cloud and Formation of the Earth and the Planets. Moscow: Nauka Press, 1969. Trans. NASA TTF 677, 1972.
See also
References
- ^
Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (5th ed.). New York: Springer Verlag. p. 304. ISBN 3-540-00238-3.
External links
- List of Gerard Kuiper award recipients at the website of American Astronomical Society
- (in Russian) A short biography
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
   | This biographical article about a Russian scientist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This European astronomer–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |