Isaak Pomeranchuk

2026-01-21 09:31:04

Isaak Pomeranchuk (Warsaw, Russian Empire, May 7 [20] 1913 – December 14, 1966, Moscow, USSR) was a Soviet theoretical physicist, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1964). Together with D. D. Ivanenko, he predicted synchrotron radiation (1944). Made a significant contribution to the creation of Soviet nuclear reactors and, in particular, to the diffusion theory of the reactor. He created a school of theoretical physicists. He predicted the effect of a negative value of the heat of fusion of solid 3He at low temperatures, which was called the Pomeranchuk effect (1950). In cooperation with A.I. Ahiezer and E. L. Feinberg developed the theory of diffraction production of particles. He made the biggest contribution to the theory of diffraction scattering of particles on nuclei. After the war, he headed a group engaged in solving the top-secret problem of accurately calculating the energy balance of a hydrogen bomb. (1958) formulated the theorem on the equality of cross sections for the interaction of a particle and an antiparticle with a nucleon at extremely high energies (Pomeranchuk's theorem), creating a new direction in particle physics – asymptotically high energy physics. The Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdala effect is named after him. Winner of the Stalin Prizes (1950, 1952).