Nikolai Semenovich Kardashev

Born Apr. 25, 1932, in Moscow. Soviet astronomer. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1976).

Kardashev graduated from Moscow State University in 1955. His research has dealt primarily with experimental and theoretical astrophysics. He was the first to point out the possibility of observing radio-frequency lines of highly excited atoms of hydrogen, helium, and other elements. Before the discovery of pulsars he conjectured the existence of a rapidly rotating neutron star with a magnetic field in the Crab Nebula, which is a remnant of the Supernova of 1054. Kardashev has also studied problems of radio telescope design.