Pіkelner Solomon Borisovich General data:
07.02.1921 - 19.11.1975
Place of birth: Baku City, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
Studied in: M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (1942);
Key interests: solar photosphere and chromosphere, astrophysics, solar wind, gas dynamic processes, non-stationary processes on the Sun, solar corona
Biography:
He was born on February 7, 1921 in Baku City of Azerbaijan the Soviet Socialist Republic.
In 1942 he graduated from M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University. He studied in the astronomy department. During the evacuation of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of the M. Vю Lomonosov Moscow State University to Ashgabat in connection with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of the USSR against fascist Germany, which was part of World War II, he was the only student of Y. S. Shklovsky.
In 1945 he defended his dissertation, in which he first showed that stellar wind from hot stars can be caused by the pressure of radiation in the ion lines of the richest chemical elements, and in 1957 his doctoral dissertation on the study of interstellar gas.
He was an employee of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory of the USSR Academy of Sciences since 1948 (according to other sources, he worked at the observatory in 1946-1959).
Together with Shine G. A. and Gaze V. F. conducted a detailed photometry of many dozens of negatives of nebulae of different types. As a result, they proved that the continuous emission of emission nebulae is due to two-quantum transitions in hydrogen atoms, that emission nebulae contain dust and reflective nebulae contain gas, and the differences between these two structures of the interstellar medium are determined primarily by an external factor.
In 1951, the term "solar wind" had not yet become commonplace, but the very idea that the outer parts of the crown would be gradually lost was obvious; photographs taken during the eclipse showed changes in time and location. The scientist considered this process, perhaps more thoroughly than Chapman.
In 1955 he participated in the Congress of the International Astronomical Union in Dublin, the Moscow Congress of the International Astronomical Union in 1958. In 1968, he participated in the Symposium № 39 of the International Astronomical Union on Space Gas Dynamics, held in the Crimea.
Since 1959 he has been a professor at the Department of Astrophysics, Faculty of Physics of M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University.
During 1964-1967 he was the President of the Commission #34 "Interstellar Matter and Planetary Nebulae" of the International Astronomical Union.
Since 1971 he was a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of London.
He died on November 19, 1975.
The sphere of scientific work of the scientist was the physics of the Sun, in particular the Solar Crown and the Solar Wind, interstellar space and gas-dust nebulae, problems of star formation.
He studied the turbulent motions of the interstellar medium, and for the first time showed that the optical radiation of gas nebulae can be caused by shock waves. He was one of the first to use magnetic gas dynamics and plasma physics to study the nature of space objects, which made it possible to understand the set of phenomena in the interstellar medium, galaxies, and the Sun's atmosphere.
He developed the theory of shock waves with respect to cosmic plasma. He explained the complex fibrous structure of the shells of Supernova remnants, constructed a quantitative theory of the luminescence of fibers based on the idea of the intersection of shock wave fronts with illumination in an inhomogeneous medium. He developed a method for estimating the magnetic field and energy of particles in radio sources - Supernova residues. He explained the age-related acceleration of crab nebula fibers by the pressure of relativistic particles and the magnetic field. He studied the kinematic and physical properties of interstellar gas, including its heating and ionization. He showed that an integral property of interstellar gas is its two-phase state (rarefied hot and dense cold phases), and thus explained the formation of clouds in the interstellar medium. Considered the process of formation of massive gas complexes near the Galaxy plane, taking into account the influence of the magnetic field on the motion of neutral interstellar gas, and showed the possibility of gravitational condensation of gas into stars within these complexes; put forward the concept of a galactic halo (according to some data, jointly with G. A. Shain) formed by relativistic particles and interstellar magnetic fields, which played an important role in the development of the theory of the origin of cosmic rays.
Pickelner's name is given to the small planet #1975 and the crater on the back of the Moon.
Main publications:
1. Пикельнер С.Б. Происхожение и эволюция галактик и звезд , 1976
2. Пикельнер С. Б. О теориях «равновесного» происхождении элементов. Вопросы космогонии. 1958. Т. 6. С. 275—276.
3. Пикельнер С. Б. Физика межзвездной среды- Москва: Издательство Академии наук СССР, 1959, 216 с.
4. Пикельнер С. Б., Каплан С.А. Межзвездная среда- Москва:
Госполитиздат, 1963, 531 c
Sources:
1 Колчинский И. Г., Корсунь А. А., Родригес М. Г. Астрономы: Биографический справочник. — Киев: Наук. думка, 1986.—510 с.- С. 256-257
2 Пикельнер Соломон Борисович (1924—1970) // Историко-астрономические исследования.—1984.—Вып. 17.—С. 229—235.
3 Материалы конференции “Физика небесных тел”, посвященной 60-летию со дня образования Крымской астрофизической обсерватории // Изв. Крым. астрофиз. обсерватории.—2007.—103, вып 3.—260 с.
4 Материалы международной научной конференции «100 летие: прошлое, настоящее и будущее Крымской астрофизической обсерватории» // Изв. Крым. астрофиз. обсерватории.—2008.—104, вып. 5.—С. 5—160.
