The Most Famous
PHYSICISTS from Ukraine
This page contains a list of the greatest Ukrainian Physicists. The pantheon dataset contains 717 Physicists, 13 of which were born in Ukraine. This makes Ukraine the birth place of the 14th most number of Physicists behind Sweden and India.
Top 10
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Ukrainian Physicists of all time. This list of famous Ukrainian Physicists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Ukrainian Physicists.
1. George Gamow (1904 - 1968)
With an HPI of 67.38, George Gamow is the most famous Ukrainian Physicist. His biography has been translated into 54 different languages on wikipedia.
George Gamow, sometimes Gammoff; born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov (Russian: Георгий Антонович Гамов; 4 March 1904 – 19 August 1968) was a Soviet and American polymath, theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He was an early advocate and developer of Lemaître's Big Bang theory. Gamow discovered a theoretical explanation of alpha decay by quantum tunneling, invented the liquid drop model and the first mathematical model of the atomic nucleus, worked on radioactive decay, star formation, stellar nucleosynthesis, Big Bang nucleosynthesis (which he collectively called nucleocosmogenesis), and molecular genetics. In his middle and late career, Gamow directed much of his attention to teaching and wrote popular books on science, including One Two Three... Infinity and the Mr Tompkins series of books (1939–1967). Some of his books remain in print more than a half-century after their original publication.
2. Georges Charpak (1924 - 2010)
With an HPI of 64.47, Georges Charpak is the 2nd most famous Ukrainian Physicist. His biography has been translated into 67 different languages.
Georges Charpak (French: [ʃaʁpak]; born Jerzy Charpak, (1 August 1924 – 29 September 2010) was a Polish-born French physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1992.
3. Moshé Feldenkrais (1904 - 1984)
With an HPI of 60.49, Moshé Feldenkrais is the 3rd most famous Ukrainian Physicist. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Moshé Pinchas Feldenkrais (Hebrew: משה פנחס פלדנקרייז, May 6, 1904 – July 1, 1984) was a Ukrainian-Israeli engineer and physicist, known as the founder of the Feldenkrais Method, a system of physical exercise that aims to improve human functioning by increasing self-awareness through movement. Feldenkrais' theory is that "thought, feeling, perception and movement are closely interrelated and influence each other."
4. Abram Ioffe (1880 - 1960)
With an HPI of 56.04, Abram Ioffe is the 4th most famous Ukrainian Physicist. His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.
Abram Fedorovich Ioffe (Russian: Абра́м Фёдорович Ио́ффе, IPA: [ɐˈbram ˈfʲɵdərəvʲɪtɕ ɪˈofɛ]; 29 October [O.S. 17 October] 1880 – 14 October 1960) was a prominent Soviet physicist. He received the Stalin Prize (1942), the Lenin Prize (1960) (posthumously), and the Hero of Socialist Labor (1955). Ioffe was an expert in various areas of solid state physics and electromagnetism. He established research laboratories for radioactivity, superconductivity, and nuclear physics, many of which became independent institutes.
5. Evgeny Lifshitz (1915 - 1985)
With an HPI of 53.38, Evgeny Lifshitz is the 5th most famous Ukrainian Physicist. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Evgeny Mikhailovich Lifshitz (Ukrainian: Євге́н Миха́йлович Лі́фшиць, Russian: Евге́ний Миха́йлович Ли́фшиц; February 21, 1915, Kharkiv – October 29, 1985, Moscow) was a leading Soviet physicist and brother of the physicist Ilya Lifshitz.
6. Ivan Puluj (1845 - 1918)
With an HPI of 52.64, Ivan Puluj is the 6th most famous Ukrainian Physicist. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Ivan Puluj (son of Pavlo Puluj and Xenia née Burshtynska Ukrainian: Іва́н Пулю́й, син Павла́ Пулю́я i Ксенiї, ур. Бурштинської, pronounced [iˈwɑn pʊˈlʲuj]; German: Johann Puluj; 2 February 1845 – 31 January 1918) was a Ukrainian physicist and inventor, who has been championed as an early developer of the use of X-rays for medical imaging. His contributions were largely neglected until the end of the 20th century.
7. Anatoly Alexandrov (1903 - 1994)
With an HPI of 51.48, Anatoly Alexandrov is the 7th most famous Ukrainian Physicist. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov (Russian: Анатолий Петрович Александров, 13 February 1903 – 3 February 1994) was a Soviet physicist who played a crucial and centralizing role in the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. During his lifetime, Alexandrov was the recipient of many honors, civil citations, and state awards for this work and was also the director of the Kurchatov Institute and the President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences from 1975 until 1986.
8. Julius Edgar Lilienfeld (1882 - 1963)
With an HPI of 50.25, Julius Edgar Lilienfeld is the 8th most famous Ukrainian Physicist. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Julius Edgar Lilienfeld (April 18, 1882 – August 28, 1963) was an Austro-Hungarian-American physicist and electrical engineer, who has been credited with the first patent on the field-effect transistor (FET) (1925). He was never able to build a working practical semiconducting device based on this concept, additionally, because of his failure to publish articles in learned journals and since high-purity semiconductor materials were not available to him, his FET patent never achieved fame, causing confusion for later inventors.
9. Dmitri Ivanenko (1904 - 1994)
With an HPI of 49.84, Dmitri Ivanenko is the 9th most famous Ukrainian Physicist. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Dmitri Dmitrievich Ivanenko (Ukrainian: Дмитро́ Дми́трович Іване́нко, Russian: Дми́трий Дми́триевич Иване́нко; July 29, 1904 – December 30, 1994) was a Soviet theoretical physicist of Ukrainian origin who made great contributions to the physical science of the twentieth century, especially to nuclear physics, field theory, and gravitation theory. He worked in the Poltava Gravimetric Observatory of the Institute of Geophysics of NAS of Ukraine, was the head of the Theoretical Department Ukrainian Physico-Technical Institute in Kharkiv, Head of the Department of Theoretical Physics of the Kharkiv Institute of Mechanical Engineering. Professor of University of Kharkiv, Professor of Moscow State University (since 1943).
10. Isaak Khalatnikov (1919 - 2021)
With an HPI of 48.00, Isaak Khalatnikov is the 10th most famous Ukrainian Physicist. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov (Ukrainian: Ісаа́к Ма́ркович Хала́тников, Russian: Исаак Маркович Халатников; 17 October 1919 – 9 January 2021) was a leading Soviet theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to many areas of theoretical physics, including general relativity, quantum field theory, as well as the theory of quantum liquids. He is well known for his role in developing the Landau-Khalatnikov theory of superfluidity and the so-called BKL conjecture in the general theory of relativity.
Pantheon has 13 people classified as physicists born between 1845 and 1924. Of these 13, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased physicists include George Gamow, Georges Charpak, and Moshé Feldenkrais. As of April 2022, 2 new physicists have been added to Pantheon including Isaak Khalatnikov and Vladimir Veksler.
Deceased Physicists
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George Gamow
1904 - 1968
HPI: 67.38
Georges Charpak
1924 - 2010
HPI: 64.47
Moshé Feldenkrais
1904 - 1984
HPI: 60.49
Abram Ioffe
1880 - 1960
HPI: 56.04
Evgeny Lifshitz
1915 - 1985
HPI: 53.38
Ivan Puluj
1845 - 1918
HPI: 52.64
Anatoly Alexandrov
1903 - 1994
HPI: 51.48
Julius Edgar Lilienfeld
1882 - 1963
HPI: 50.25
Dmitri Ivanenko
1904 - 1994
HPI: 49.84
Isaak Khalatnikov
1919 - 2021
HPI: 48.00
Maurice Goldhaber
1911 - 2011
HPI: 46.36
Gregory Breit
1899 - 1981
HPI: 45.42
Newly Added Physicists (2022)
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Which Physicists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 12 most globally memorable Physicists since 1700.
