Viktor Sergeevich Safronov (Russian: Виктор Сергеевич Сафронов) (born Velikie Luki, Russia, 11 October 1917 - died Moscow 18 September 1999) was a Soviet astronomer who put forward the low-mass-nebula model of planet formation, a consistent picture of how the planets formed from a disk of gas and dust around the Sun.
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Safronov graduated from Moscow State University Department of Mechanics and Mathematics in 1941. He defended a dissertation for the Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in 1968. His scientific interests were planetary cosmogony, astrophysics and geophysics.
His planetesimal hypothesis of planet formation is still widely accepted among astronomers, although alternative theories exist (such as the gravitational fragmentation of the protoplanetary disk directly into planets).
A minor planet 3615 Safronov, discovered by US-American astronomer Edward L. G. Bowell in 1983 is named after him. [1] Safronov's work is discussed at length in the BBC documentary The Planets (TV miniseries)