Ginzburg, Vitalii Lazarevich (1916– )

Russian physicist. His use of quantum theory in a study of Cherenkov radiation contributed to the development of nuclear physics. He was one of the first to believe that cosmic background radiation comes from beyond our own Galaxy. He was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize for Physics, with US physicists Alexei Abrikosov and Anthony Leggett, for his work on superconductivity.

Ginzburg also formulated the theory of a molecule containing particles with varying degrees of motion, for which he devised the first relativistically invariant wave equation. After 1950, he concentrated on problems in thermonuclear reactions. His work on cosmic rays led him to a hypothesis about their origin and to the conclusion that they can be accelerated in a supernova.

Ginzburg was born and educated in Moscow, Russia, and spent his career there at the Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences.