Famous 20th Century Russian Scientists

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 1 
Peter Kropotkin
(Anarchist, Socialist & Historian)
Peter Kropotkin
4
Birthdate: December 9, 1842
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
Died: February 8, 1921

Russian philosopher Peter Kropotkin was a passionate advocate of anarcho-communism. He was also an activist, revolutionary, economist, and sociologist. He was arrested and imprisoned for his activism in 1874. However, he managed to escape and lived in exile for over 40 years in different countries across Europe. He returned to Russia after the Russian Revolution in 1917. 

 2 
Lev Landau
(Russian Physicist and One for the Founders of Quantum Mechanical Theory)
Lev Landau
4
Birthdate: January 22, 1908
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Baku, Azerbaijan
Died: April 1, 1968

Nobel Prize-winning Russian physicist Lev Landau is remembered for his pathbreaking research in quantum mechanics. A math prodigy, he had learned calculus at 13. He failed to receive his Nobel in person due to a near-fatal car crash which caused him injuries that eventually caused his death 6 years later.

 3 
Andrei Sakharov
(Soviet Nuclear Physicist, Dissident and Winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize for Peace)
Andrei Sakharov
4
Birthdate: May 21, 1921
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
Died: December 14, 1989

Andrei Sakharov was a Russian dissident and nuclear physicist best remembered for designing RDS-37, Soviet Union's first two-stage hydrogen bomb. Also an activist for peace and human rights, Andrei Sakharov was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which is awarded by the European Parliament, is named in his honor.

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 4 
Sergei Korolev
(Lead Rocket Engineer and Founder of the Soviet Union’s Space Program)
Sergei Korolev
6
Birthdate: January 1, 1907
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Zhytomyr, Ukraine
Died: January 14, 1966

Sergei Korolev was a Soviet spacecraft designer and rocket engineer who played an important role during the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States of America in the 1950s and 1960s. He was largely responsible for developing the R-7 Rocket and launching Yuri Gagarin into space. Sergei Korolev also launched Belka, Strelka, and Laika into space.

 5 
Anatoli Bugorski
(physicist, nuclear scientist)
Anatoli Bugorski
4
Birthdate: June 25, 1942
Sun Sign: Cancer
Russian particle physicist Anatoli Bugorski is known as the man who survived after putting his head inside a particle accelerator while examining a faulty equipment. The radiation caused partial paralysis of his face and loss of hearing in his left ear. The Soviet government prevented him from talking about this for decades.
 6 
Vitalik Buterin
(Computer scientist)
Vitalik Buterin
16
Birthdate: January 31, 1994
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Kolomna, Russia
 7 
Theodosius Dobzhansky
(Russian-American Geneticist and Evolutionary Biologist)
Theodosius Dobzhansky
5
Birthdate: January 25, 1900
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Nemyriv, Ukraine
Died: December 18, 1975

Theodosius Dobzhansky was a Ukrainian-American geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He played a key role in shaping modern synthesis in the field of evolutionary biology.  His 1937 book, Genetics and the Origin of Species, is a seminal work on modern synthesis. He was the recipient of several awards, including the US National Medal of Science and the Franklin Medal.  

 8 
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
(Russian Rocket Scientist Who Pioneered Astronautic Theory)
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
5
Birthdate: September 17, 1857
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Izhevskoe, Russia
Died: September 19, 1935

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was a Russian rocket scientist. Credited with pioneering astronautic theory, Tsiolkovsky is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of astronautics and modern rocketry. His works served as an inspiration to several other Soviet rocket engineers like Valentin Glushko and Sergei Korolev. Hence, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's work played an influential role in the Soviet space program.

 9 
Vladimir Demikhov
(Organ Transplant Pioneer)
Vladimir Demikhov
3
Birthdate: July 18, 1916
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Moscow
Died: November 22, 1998
While some called him a mad scientist, Vladimir Demikhov is now remembered as a pioneer of organ transplantation. The Soviet scientist coined the term transplantology and shocked the world by creating two-headed dogs, by attaching the head of one dog to the body of another. 
 10 
George Gamow
(Physicist)
George Gamow
3
Birthdate: March 4, 1904
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Odessa
Died: August 19, 1968

Born to school teacher parents, Ukrainian-American physicist George Gamow grew up to be a pioneer of the big-bang theory. His other contributions include the liquid-drop model of atomic nuclei and his research on DNA. Apart from various science textbooks, he also wrote the popular Mr. Tompkins series of physics books.

 11 
Boris Berezovsky
(Russian Business Oligarch, Government Official, Engineer and Mathematician)
Boris Berezovsky
4
Birthdate: January 23, 1946
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
Died: March 23, 2013

Russian business-tycoon, engineer, mathematician and government official Boris Berezovsky is counted among the famed Russian oligarchs who made their fortunes during the 1990s, when Russia was going through privatization of state property. He remained a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin since the latter’s election as president in 2000 and was granted political asylum by the UK in 2003.

 12 
Andrey Kolmogorov
(Russian Mathematician Who Contributed to ‘Probability Theory’, ‘Probability Space’, ‘Topology’, ‘Intuitionistic Logic’ and ‘Turbulence Studies’)
Andrey Kolmogorov
4
Birthdate: April 25, 1903
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Tambov, Russia
Died: October 20, 1987

Russian mathematician Andrey Kolmogorov lost his mother at birth and was raised by his aunts. His talent in mathematics was discovered when he joined the Moscow State University to study history and math, while simultaneously studying metallurgy elsewhere. His greatest contribution to mathematics was in the field of probability theory.

 13 
Ilya Prigogine
(Russian-Belgian Physical Chemist and Winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize for Chemistry)
Ilya Prigogine
3
Birthdate: January 25, 1917
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
Died: May 28, 2003

Ilya Prigogine was a physical chemist remembered for his work on irreversibility, complex systems, and dissipative structures. A respected member of several scientific organizations, Prigogine was honored with the Francqui Prize in 1955. In 1976, he won the Rumford Medal for his work concerning irreversible thermodynamics. His work on irreversible thermodynamics earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977.

 14 
Nikolai Vavilov
(Russian Geneticist and Agronomist Who Was Imprisoned for His Unconventional Scientific Beliefs)
Nikolai Vavilov
5
Birthdate: November 25, 1887
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
Died: January 26, 1943

Russian geneticist Nikolai Vavilov not just taught at the University of Saratov but also served as the director of the Bureau of Applied Botany in Petrograd. He made expeditions worldwide, but invited criticism from Soviet agronomist T.D. Lysenko, who was close to Stalin. Vavilov was eventually imprisoned and died in captivity.

 15 
Élie Metchnikoff
(Former zoologist best known for his pioneering research in immunology)
Élie Metchnikoff
3
Birthdate: May 15, 1845
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Ukraine
Died: July 15, 1916
 16 
Igor Kurchatov
(Nuclear physicist)
Igor Kurchatov
3
Birthdate: January 12, 1903
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Sim, Russia
Died: February 7, 1960
 17 
Sergei Winogradsky
(Russian Microbiologist and Ecologist Who Pioneered the Concept of the Cycle of Life)
Sergei Winogradsky
2
Birthdate: September 1, 1856
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Kiev, Ukraine
Died: February 25, 1953

Russian microbiologist Sergei Winogradsky was the first to suggest the concept of the cycle of life. Born into a family of lawyers, he initially aspired to be a lawyer and also studied music, before switching to chemistry and then botany. His research covered sulfur-oxidizing bacteria and the nitrogen cycle.

 18 
Alexander Friedmann
(Physicist and Mathematician Best Known for His Pioneering Theory That the Universe Was Expanding)
Alexander Friedmann
3
Birthdate: June 16, 1888
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: St. Petersburg, Russia
Died: September 16, 1925

Though born to a ballet dancer father and a pianist mother, Alexander Friedmann grew up to be a talented mathematician and cosmologist. He had served as an aviator during World War I and later also taught. He died of typhoid at age 37 after eating a pear during his honeymoon.

 19 
Yuri Oganessian
(Nuclear physicist known for co-discoverer of the heaviest elements in the periodic table; element oganesson named after him)
Yuri Oganessian
3
Birthdate: April 14, 1933
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Rostov-on-Don, Russia
 20 
Vladimir Vernadsky
(Russian Mineralogist and One of the Founders of Geochemistry, Radiogeology and Biogeochemistry)
Vladimir Vernadsky
3
Birthdate: March 12, 1863
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: January 6, 1945

Vladimir Vernadsky was a geochemist and mineralogist who is widely regarded as one of the founders of radiogeology, biogeochemistry, and geochemistry. He is also credited with founding the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Vernadsky is best remembered for his book, The Biosphere, which discusses Eduard Suess' work. He won the prestigious Stalin Prize in 1943.

 21 
Pyotr Kapitsa
(Soviet Physicist and Winner of 1978 Nobel Prize for His Basic Inventions and Discoveries in Low-Temperature Physics)
Pyotr Kapitsa
3
Birthdate: July 8, 1894
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Kronstadt, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: April 8, 1984

Nobel Prize-winning Soviet physicist Pyotr Kapitsa revolutionized science with his invention of new machines for liquefaction of gases. He is also remembered for discovering that liquid helium is superfluid. He had also served in World War I and had lost his father, wife, and children in the 1918-1919 flu epidemic.

 22 
Leonid Kantorovich
(Russian Mathematician and Winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Economics)
Leonid Kantorovich
3
Birthdate: January 19, 1912
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: April 7, 1986

Leonid Kantorovich was a Soviet economist and mathematician. Credited with founding linear programming, Kantorovich was honored with the prestigious Stalin Prize in 1949. In 1975, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on the theory of optimum allocation of resources. He also made important contributions to functional analysis, operator theory, and approximation theory.

 23 
Edward Frenkel
(Russian-American Mathematician)
Edward Frenkel
3
Birthdate: May 2, 1968
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Kolomna, Russia
 24 
Dmitri Ivanovsky
(Russian Botanist, the Co-Discoverer of Viruses and One of the Founders of Virology)
Dmitri Ivanovsky
4
Birthdate: October 28, 1864
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Gdov, Russia
Died: June 20, 1920

Best remembered for his co-discovery of viruses during his research on the mosaic disease in tobacco, Russian botanist Dmitri Ivanovsky is regarded as one of the pioneers of virology. Interestingly, following his discovery, he didn’t focus on virology much and taught plant anatomy and physiology instead.

 25 
Alexander Oparin
(Former Biochemist known for contributions to the theory of the origin of life, oacervates)
Alexander Oparin
3
Birthdate: March 2, 1894
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Uglich, Russia
Died: April 21, 1980
 26 
Zhores Ivanovich Alferov
(Russian Physicist Who Was Awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000)
Zhores Ivanovich Alferov
3
Birthdate: March 15, 1930
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Viciebsk, Belarus
Died: March 1, 2019

Zhores Ivanovich Alferov was a Soviet and Russian academic and physicist whose work, which led to the formation of semiconductor heterostructures, earned him the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics. Alferov's work helped revolutionize semiconductor design, which in turn played a major role in the development of satellite communications and mobile phones.

 27 
Vladimir Voevodsky
(Mathematician)
Vladimir Voevodsky
3
Birthdate: June 4, 1966
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
Died: September 30, 2017
 28 
Vladimir Arnold
(Wolf Prize-Winning Ukrainian Mathematician)
Vladimir Arnold
3
Birthdate: June 12, 1937
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Odessa, Ukraine
Died: June 3, 2010

Wolf Prize-winning Ukrainian mathematician Vladimir Arnold is remembered for his research on singularity theory, dynamical systems, and differential equations. He had also authored several textbooks, such as Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics. His most important contribution was the Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser theorem.

 29 
Yury Luzhkov
(Russian Politician)
Yury Luzhkov
3
Birthdate: September 21, 1936
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
Died: December 10, 2019
 30 
Petr Mitrichev
(Russian Competitive Programmer)
Petr Mitrichev
3
Birthdate: March 19, 1985
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Moscow

From solving complex math problems at age 10, Petr Mitrichev went on to become a globally renowned competitive programmer. His achievements include gold medals at the IOI, apart from wins in the Topcoder Open and the Facebook Hacker Cup. A sports lover, he also loves soccer and table tennis.

 31 
Israel Gelfand
(Mathematician)
Israel Gelfand
3
Birthdate: September 2, 1913
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Kherson Governorate
Died: October 5, 2009
 32 
Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov
(Russian-French Mathematician)
Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov
3
Birthdate: December 23, 1943
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Boksitogorsk, Russia
 33 
Maxim Kontsevich
(Mathematician, Topologist)
Maxim Kontsevich
3
Birthdate: August 25, 1964
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Khimki
 34 
Igor Tamm
(Soviet Physicist Who Won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics)
Igor Tamm
2
Birthdate: July 8, 1895
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Vladivostok, Russia
Died: April 12, 1971

Igor Tamm was a Soviet physicist whose contribution to the discovery of Cherenkov radiation earned him the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics, which he shared with Ilya Mikhailovich Frank and Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov. In the 1940s and '50s, Igor Tamm played an important role in the Soviet atomic bomb project, which was authorized by Joseph Stalin.

 35 
Pavel Cherenkov
(Russian Physicist and Winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics for the Discovery of Cherenkov Radiation)
Pavel Cherenkov
2
Birthdate: July 28, 1904
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Novaya Chigla, Russia
Died: January 6, 1990

Pavel Cherenkov was a Soviet physicist whose discovery of Cherenkov radiation in 1934 earned him the prestigious Nobel Prize in physics in 1958. He also played an important role in the investigation of photo-meson reactions and photo-nuclear and in the construction and development of electron accelerators. Over the course of his career, Cherenkov won several awards, including two Stalin Prizes.

 36 
Vitaly Ginzburg
(Russian Physicist Who Won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics)
Vitaly Ginzburg
3
Birthdate: October 4, 1916
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
Died: November 8, 2009

Vitaly Ginzburg was a Russian theoretical physicist whose contributions to the theory of superfluids and superconductors earned him the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics which he shared with Alexei Abrikosov and Anthony Leggett in 2003. Ginzburg was one of the most important scientists during the atomic bomb project of the Soviet Union. In 1953, he received the prestigious Stalin Prize.

 37 
Anatoly Timofeevich Fomenko
(Mathematician,)
Anatoly Timofeevich Fomenko
2
Birthdate: March 13, 1945
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Donetsk, Ukraine
 38 
Leonid Khachiyan
(Mathematician)
Leonid Khachiyan
2
Birthdate: May 3, 1952
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: St. Petersburg, Russia
Died: April 29, 2005
 39 
Pavel Florensky
(Theologian)
Pavel Florensky
3
Birthdate: January 22, 1882
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Yevlakh, Azerbaijan
Died: December 8, 1943

Russian theologian Pavel Florensky is best remembered for his essay The Pillar and the Ground of Truth. During Stalin’s regime and amid a phase of national atheism, he was sent to jail and also banished to Siberia for his religious beliefs, which he refused to renounce.

 40 
Stanislav Smirnov
(Mathematician, University teacher)
Stanislav Smirnov
2
Birthdate: September 3, 1970
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Saint Petersburg
 41 
Alexander Stepanov
(Russian-American Computer Programmer Known as the Pimary Designer and Implementer of the 'C++ Standard Template Library')
Alexander Stepanov
2
Birthdate: November 16, 1950
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Moscow

Alexander Stepanov is a Russian-American computer programmer. He is best known as the primary designer of the C++ Standard Template Library and as an advocate of generic programming. Alexander Stepanov is credited with authoring important books, including Elements of Programming and From Mathematics to Generic Programming.

 42 
Igor Ansoff
(Mathematician, Economist, University teacher)
Igor Ansoff
2
Birthdate: December 12, 1918
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Vladivostok
Died: July 14, 2002

Best known as the father of strategic management for devising the strategy model known as Ansoff’s matrix, Russian-American applied mathematician Igor Ansoff had also taught at the Carnegie Mellon University. He had also managed countless technology projects and consulted with companies such as IBM, Gulf, and General Electric.

 43 
Lev Pontryagin
(Mathematician)
Lev Pontryagin
2
Birthdate: September 3, 1908
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
Died: May 3, 1988
 44 
Grigory Margulis
(Mathematician)
Grigory Margulis
2
Birthdate: February 24, 1946
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
 45 
Vladimir Drinfeld
(Mathematician)
Vladimir Drinfeld
2
Birthdate: February 14, 1954
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
 46 
Oleg Losev
(Physicist, Inventor)
Oleg Losev
0
Birthdate: May 10, 1903
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Tver, Russia
Died: January 22, 1942
 47 
Andrei Okounkov
(Mathematician)
Andrei Okounkov
2
Birthdate: June 26, 1969
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
 48 
Nikolay Basov
(Physicist)
Nikolay Basov
3
Birthdate: December 14, 1922
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Usman, Russia
Died: July 1, 2001
 49 
Vladimir Fock
(Physicist)
Vladimir Fock
2
Birthdate: December 22, 1898
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: December 27, 1974
 50 
Vasily Dokuchaev
(Russian Ecologist and Geologist Who Conducted Path-Breaking Research on Soil Science)
Vasily Dokuchaev
2
Birthdate: March 1, 1846
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Milyukovo, Russia
Died: November 8, 1903

Russian ecologist, geomorphologist, and soil scientist Vasily Dokuchaev initially taught at the University of St. Petersburg and was later associated with the Novo-Aleksandr Institute of Agriculture and Forestry. He developed a soil classification system that explained the 5 factors for soil formation. The city of Dokuchaievsk in Ukraine is named after him.