Ivanenko, Dmitrii

Born July 16 (29), 1904, in Poltava. Soviet physicist. Doctor of physical and mathematical sciences.

Ivanenko graduated from Leningrad University in 1927. In 1943 he became a professor at Moscow University. He was the first to advance the hypothesis that the atomic nucleus was composed of protons and neutrons (1932). He laid the foundations of the theory of nuclear forces (simultaneously with I.E. Tamm; 1934–36). Together with I. Ia. Pomeranchuk and A.A. Sokolov he worked on the theory of the electromagnetic radiation of high-energy electrons in accelerators (the theory of synchrotron radiation; State Prize, 1950). Ivanenko has also written works on the theory of cosmic showers, the consideration of the force of radiation reaction, the theory of gravitation, and the history of physics.