Rebane, Karl

Born Apr. 11, 1926, in Pärnu. Soviet physicist. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1976). Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR (1967); academician-secretary of the division of physicotechnical and mathematical sciences (1964–68), vice-president (1968–73), and president (since 1973) of the academy. Member of the CPSU since 1948.

Rebane graduated from Leningrad State University in 1952. A staff member of the Institute of Physics and Astronomy of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR from 1956 to 1964, he was named the institute’s director in 1973. He became a professor at the University of Tartu in 1968.

Rebane’s principal works deal with crystal spectroscopy. He has made contributions to the theory of the electronic-vibrational spectra of impurity centers and to the theory of the secondary luminescence of such centers. He has carried out experimental studies of the optical spectra of crystals activated by molecular impurities and of the spectra of biologically important molecules.

A deputy to the ninth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Rebane has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.