B11

Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg (1916 - 2009) graduated from Moscow State University in 1938. He was a theoretical physicist Nobel Laureate and co-founder of the hydrogen bomb.

THEORY

B12

His achievements include the Ginzburg-Landau theory (superconductivity) and a theory on the origin of cosmic radiation amongst others.

ACHIEVE

B13

His opposition to Trofim Lysenko also paved the way to the re-emergence of Genetic Science in Russia.

His life was not short or drama either. In 1946 he married Nina Yermakova after she spent a year in jail on charges of attempting to assassinate Stalin. It is not unreasonable to assume he was a brave man!

OPPOSE

B14

Ginzburg identified himself as a "secular" Jew who didn't believe in God. But he was very active in campaigning against prejudice and also an enthusiastic supporter of the State of Israel.

ENTHUSIASM

B15

A militant atheist - he criticised clericalism and wrote several books related to the issues of religion and atheism. His verbal attacks on the Russian Orthodox Church provoked fury and indignation.

VERB

B16

Despite all the controversy, when he died in 2009, President Medvedev wrote he was "the top figure of our time in physics, whose discoveries had a huge impact on the development of national and world science".

DISCOVER