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Viktor Sergeevich Safronov (Russian: Виктор Сергеевич Сафронов) (born Velikie Luki, Russia, 11 October 1917 - died Moscow 18 September 1999) 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 Moscow State University Department of Mechanics and Mathematics in 1941. He defended a dissertation for the Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in 1968. His scientific interests were planetary cosmogony, astrophysics and geophysics.

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 minor planet 3615 Safronov, discovered by US-American astronomer Edward L. G. Bowell in 1983 is named after him. ^[1] Safronov's work is discussed at length in the BBC documentary The Planets (TV miniseries)

Awards

Otto Schmidt USSR Academy of Sciences Prize (1974)
Kuiper Prize in 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.

References

^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (5th ed.). New York: Springer Verlag. p. 304. ISBN 3-540-00238-3. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)