Alexander Prokhorov

Aleksandr Prokhorov was a male Soviet and Russian physicist, university teacher, and editor. Born on July 11, 1916, he worked in the fields of physics, quantum electronics, laser, and maser technology. He served as a full professor at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the Lebedev Physical Institute. His academic background included education at the Lebedev Physical Institute and Saint Petersburg State University.

Prokhorov was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics and is recognized in the Nobel Laureates, Nobel Physics, and American Academy Arts Sciences collections. He received the USSR State Prize, the Order of Lenin, the Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945," and the title of Hero of Socialist Labour. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and held memberships in the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

He participated in World War II and had an Erdős number of 6. His doctoral advisor was Sergei Rytov, and he supervised doctoral students including Nikolay Basov and Evgeny Velikhov. Prokhorov spoke Russian and died on January 8, 2002. He is buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.