Kaplan Samuel Aronovich General data:
10.10.1921 - 11.06.1978
Place of birth: Roslavl city, Smolensk province, Russian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Smolensk region, Russian Federation)
Studied in: A. I. Herzen Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute (since 1991 A. I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation) (1945);
Key interests: decameter radio astronomy, astrophysics, general theory of relativity, gas dynamic processes, theoretical astrophysics, sources of stellar energy, astronomy, stellar evolution, popularization of astronomy. PhD Thesis: Energy sources and the evolution of white dwarfs (1948 ); ScD Thesis: Methods of gas dynamics of the interstellar medium (1957 M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University);
Biography:
He was born on October 10, 1921 in Roslavlcity of Smolensk Province of Russian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Smolensk region of Russian Federation).
In 1926, the boy and his parents moved to Leningrad city, where his father taught at the Forest Academy as an associate professor, his mother worked as a school teacher of English.
During 1939-1945 he fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War and World War II. He was awarded two medals for military merit.
In 1945 he graduated from the A. I. Herzen Leningrad Pedagogical Institute.
In 1948 he graduated from the A. A. Zhdanov Leningrad Order of Lenin State University, where he entered in 1945.
In 1948 (according to other sources in 1949) he defended his dissertation on "Energy sources and the evolution of white dwarfs", and in 1957 he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University. Methods of gas dynamics of the interstellar medium".
Since 1948 he was an employee of the Astronomical Observatory of Ivan Franko Lviv State University, where during 1948-1950 he worked as head of the Department of Astrophysics; during 1950-1952 (according to other data since 1949) he worked as Deputy Director for Research. During 1952-1959 he was an associate professor of theoretical physics. and since 1959 he is Professor of Theoretical Physics and part-time senior researcher at the Astronomical Observatory.
In 1948, under his leadership, work began on theoretical astrophysics, and more precisely, work was carried out on the problem of the internal structure of stars, relativistic astrophysics, and the physics of the interstellar medium.
Since 1961 he worked at the Research Radiophysical Institute in Gorky city (now Nizhny Novgorod city, Russian Federation), Since 1963 he also worked part-time as a professor at Gorky University. In 1964 he received the title of professor, worked at the Department of Theoretical Mechanics and Theory of Elasticity of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, according to some sources, he held the position of professor only since 1966.
In 1969 he chaired a symposium on space gas dynamics in Mishor city. In 1971 he took part in the First Soviet-American SETI Conference in Burakan city.
Samuel tried to get an exit visa to Israel, but to no avail, because during World War II he was a radar expert and may have remembered some information that was valuable to the military.
He died on June 11, 1978. He died before boarding the train at Bologoe station in the Tver region. He got off the train during a short stop. Jumping into one of the cars of the departing train, he died in tragic circumstances: moving from one car to another at high speed train, he fell between the cars.
Scientific works relate to theoretical astrophysics. The field of scientific work is the general theory of relativity and relativistic astrophysics, white dwarfs, put forward the theory of their cooling (Chestnut-Mestel theory). He also made a significant contribution to the theory of star physics, the dynamics of the interstellar medium, in particular interstellar gas dynamics, nonstationary light scattering.
Together with Klishin I. A., he obtained a number of solutions to the theory of nonstationary light scattering in a medium with a moving boundary.
In 1949 he solved the problem of the stability of circular orbits in the gravitational field of relativistic objects in the Schwarzschild field. Until July 1957 he co-authored a lot of work to train the first observers of artificial satellites of the Earth, organized a station for optical observations of satellites at Lviv University and a suburban observation base of the Lviv Observatory in the Bryukhovychi village. In 1957-1958, he managed the work of the station 1031 artificial satellites of the Earth. He is one of the pioneers of plasma astrophysics. He co-authored with V. M. Tsitovich calculations of various plasma processes formed the basis of many works on the theory of solar radiation, the theory of pulsars and galactic nuclei. In particular, co-authored with V. M. Tsitovich developed the theory of turbulence of nonrelativistic and relativistic cosmic plasma. In a number of works new possible mechanisms of electromagnetic radiation in the astrophysical environment are described, the dynamics of the solar atmosphere is investigated. He first solved the self-consistent problem of propagating a nonlinear wave in the Sun's atmosphere. At the same time, the fundamental possibility of the formation of an inversion zone in the solar atmosphere was shown for the first time.
A bright popularizer of science, in addition to numerous courses and individual lectures, in almost all sections of modern astrophysics and space research, read in most astronomical and astrophysical institutions of the USSR.
He is the author of almost 100 scientific papers, a number of monographs and popular science books.
The small planet of the solar system was named "Kaplan" in 1987, which was discovered by PF Shine in 1952.
Main publications:
1. Каплан С. А. Физика звезд 1977.- 104с.
2. Пикельнер С. Б., Каплан С.А. Физика межзвездной среды, М.: Наука, Главная редакция физико-математической литературы, 1979. - 592 c.
3. Каплан С.А. Межзвездная газодинамика.-M.: ГИФМЛ, 1958
4. Каплан С.А., Пикельнер С.Б., Цытович В.Н. Физика плазмы солнечной атмосферы. М.: Наука, 1977.-256 с.
Sources:
1 Колчинский И. Г., Корсунь А. А., Родригес М. Г. Астрономы: Биографический справочник. — Киев: Наук. думка, 1986.—510 с.-С. 141-142
2 Pavlenko Ya. V., Vavilova I. B., Kostiuk Т. Astronomy in Ukraine. Organizations and strategies in astronomy. — Springer-Verlag, 2005.—Vol. 6.—P. 6
3 Українські фізики та астрономи. Посібник-довідник/Автор-укладач В. Шаронова.-Тернопіль: Підручники і посібники, 2007.-304 с.-С. 199-200
4 Герберт Фридман,(Заслуженный Директор Научной Космической Программы Военно-Морской Исследовательской Лаборатории, США) Спогади //И.С.Шкловский "Разум, Жизнь, Вселенная"Сборник под редакцией Т.К.Бреус, Янус-К, РФФИ, 1996
