Astronomers and Cosmologists
- Viktor Ambartsumian, one of the founders of theoretical astrophysics, discoverer of stellar associations, founder of Byurakan Observatory in Armenia
- Vladimir Belinski, an author of the BKL singularity model of the Universe evolution
- Aristarkh Belopolsky, invented a spectrograph based on the Doppler effect, among the first photographers of stellar spectra
- Fyodor Bredikhin, developed the theory of comet tails, meteors and meteor showers, a director of the Pulkovo Observatory
- Jacob Bruce, statesman, naturalist and astronomer, founder of the first observatory in Russia (in the Sukharev Tower)
- Lyudmila Chernykh, astronomer, discovered 268 asteroids
- Nikolai Chernykh, astronomer, discovered 537 asteroids and 2 comets
- Aleksandr Chudakov, co-discoverer of the Earth's radiation belt
- Alexander Friedmann, mathematician and cosmologist, discovered the expanding-universe solution to the general relativity field equations, an author of the FLRW metric of Universe
- George Gamow, theoretical physicist and cosmologist, discovered alpha decay via quantum tunneling and Gamow factor in stellar nucleosynthesis, introduced the big bang nucleosynthesis theory, predicted cosmic microwave background
- Matvey Gusev, the first to prove the non-sphericity of the Moon, pioneer of photography in astronomy
- Nikolai Kardashev, astrophysicist, inventor of Kardashev scale for ranking the space civilizations
- Isaak Khalatnikov, an author of the BKL singularity model of the Universe evolution
- Marian Kowalski, the first to measure the rotation of the Milky Way
- Feodosy Krasovsky, astronomer and geodesist, measured the Krasovsky ellipsoid, a coordinate system used in the USSR and the post-Soviet states
- Anders Johan Lexell, astronomer and mathematician, researcher of celestial mechanics and comet astronomy, proved that Uranus is a planet rather than a comet
- Andrei Linde, created the Universe chaotic inflation theory
- Evgeny Lifshitz, an author of the BKL singularity model of the Universe evolution
- Mikhail Lomonosov polymath, inventor of the off-axis reflecting telescope, discoverer of the atmosphere of Venus
- Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov, inventor of the Maksutov telescope
- Igor Novikov, theoretical astrophysicist and cosmologist, formulated the Novikov self-consistency principle in the theory of time travel
- Viktor Safronov, astronomer and cosmologist, author of the planetesimal hypothesis of planet formation
- Grigory Shayn, astronomer and astrophysicist, the first director of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, co-developed a method for measurement of stellar rotation
- Iosif Shklovsky, astronomer and astrophysicist, author of several discoveries in the fields of radio astronomy and cosmic rays, extraterrestrial life researcher
- Friedrich Wilhelm Struve, astronomer and geodesist, founder and the first director of the Pulkovo Observatory, prominent researcher and discoverer of new double stars, initiated the construction of 2,820 km long Struve Geodetic Arc, progenitor of the Struve family of astronomers
- Otto Lyudvigovich Struve, astronomer and astrophysicist, co-developed a method for measurement of stellar rotation, directed several observatories in the U.S.
- Otto Wilhelm von Struve, astronomer, director of the Pulkovo Observatory, discovered over 500 double stars
- Rashid Sunyaev, astrophysicist, co-predicted the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect of CMB distortion
- George Volkoff, predicted the existence of neutron stars
- Boris Vorontsov-Velyaminov, discovered the absorption of light by interstellar dust, author of the Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies
- Ivan Yarkovsky, discovered the YORP and Yarkovsky effects of meteoroids or asteroids
- Aleksandr Zaitsev, coined the term Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, conducted the first intercontinental radar astronomy experiment, transmitted the Cosmic Calls
- Felix Ziegel, Soviet researcher, Doctor of Science and docent of Cosmology at the Moscow Aviation Institute, author of more than 40 popular books on astronomy and space exploration, generally regarded as a founder of Russian ufology
- Yakov Zel'dovich, physicist, astrophysicist and cosmologist, the first to suggest that accretion discs around massive black holes are responsible for the quasar radiation, co-predicted the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect of CMB distortion
Read more about this topic: List Of Russian Scientists