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The Most Famous

PHYSICISTS from Belarus

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This page contains a list of the greatest Belarusian Physicists. The pantheon dataset contains 717 Physicists, 5 of which were born in Belarus. This makes Belarus the birth place of the 21st most number of Physicists behind Ireland and Belgium.

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Belarusian Physicists of all time. This list of famous Belarusian Physicists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Zhores Alferov

1. Zhores Alferov (1930 - 2019)

With an HPI of 59.92, Zhores Alferov is the most famous Belarusian Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 72 different languages on wikipedia.

Zhores Ivanovich Alferov (Russian: Жоре́с Ива́нович Алфёров, IPA: [ʐɐˈrɛs ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ɐlˈfʲɵrəf]; Belarusian: Жарэс Іва́навіч Алфёраў; 15 March 1930 – 1 March 2019) was a Soviet and Russian physicist and academic who contributed significantly to the creation of modern heterostructure physics and electronics. He shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of the semiconductor heterojunction for optoelectronics. He also became a politician in his later life, serving in the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, as a member of the Communist Party from 1995.

Photo of Otto Schmidt

2. Otto Schmidt (1891 - 1956)

With an HPI of 57.98, Otto Schmidt is the 2nd most famous Belarusian Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

Otto Yulyevich Shmidt (born Otto Friedrich Julius Schmidt; 30 September [O.S. 18 September] 1891 – 7 September 1956), better known as Otto Schmidt, was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, and academician.

Photo of Yakov Zeldovich

3. Yakov Zeldovich (1914 - 1987)

With an HPI of 57.69, Yakov Zeldovich is the 3rd most famous Belarusian Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 41 different languages.

Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich (Russian: Я́ков Бори́сович Зельдо́вич, Belarusian: Я́каў Бары́савіч Зяльдо́віч; 8 March 1914 – 2 December 1987), also known as YaB, D.N. was a leading Soviet physicist , who is known for his prolific contributions in physical cosmology, physics of thermonuclear reactions, combustion, and hydrodynamical phenomena.From 1943, Zeldovich, a self-taught physicist, started his career by playing a crucial role in the development of the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. In 1963, he returned to academia to embark on pioneering contributions on the fundamental understanding of the thermodynamics of black holes and expanding the scope of physical cosmology.

Photo of Leonid Mandelstam

4. Leonid Mandelstam (1879 - 1944)

With an HPI of 50.72, Leonid Mandelstam is the 4th most famous Belarusian Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Leonid Isaakovich Mandelstam or Mandelshtam (Belarusian: Леанід Ісаакавіч Мандэльштам; Russian: Леонид Исаакович Мандельштам; 4 May 1879 – 27 November 1944) was a Soviet and Russian physicist.

Photo of Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski

5. Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski (1845 - 1888)

With an HPI of 49.80, Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski is the 5th most famous Belarusian Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski (Polish pronunciation: [zɨɡˈmunt vrubˈlɛfskʲi]; 28 October 1845 – 16 April 1888) was a Polish physicist and chemist. Together with Karol Olszewski, he was the first scientist in the world to liquify nitrogen in 1883.

Pantheon has 5 people classified as physicists born between 1845 and 1930. Of these 5, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased physicists include Zhores Alferov, Otto Schmidt, and Yakov Zeldovich.

Deceased Physicists

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Which Physicists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 5 most globally memorable Physicists since 1700.