Viktor Sergeevich Safronov (Russian:Ви́ктор Серге́евич Сафро́нов) (born Velikie Luki; 11 October 1917 inRussia – 18 September 1999 inMoscow, Russia) was aSovietastronomer who put forward the low-mass-nebula model of planet formation, a consistent picture of how theplanets formed from a disk of gas and dust around theSun.
Safronov graduated fromMoscow 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 covered planetarycosmogony,astrophysics andgeophysics.
Hisplanetesimal hypothesis of planet formation is still widely accepted among astronomers, although alternative theories exist (such as the gravitational fragmentation of theprotoplanetary disk directly into planets).
Aminor planet,3615 Safronov, discovered byUS-American astronomerEdward L. G. Bowell in 1983, is named after him,[1]as isSafronov Regio on Pluto.[2]
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