{{Short description|Russian physicist (1907–1999)}} thumb '''Leonid Ivanovich Sedov''' ({{langx|ru|Леонид Иванович Седов}}; 14 November 1907, Rostov-on-Don – 5 September 1999, Moscow) was a Russian physicist who worked as an engineer in the former Soviet space program.
In 1930 Sedov graduated from the Moscow State University, where he had been a student of Sergey Chaplygin, with the degree of Doctor of Physics and Mathematical Sciences. He later became a professor at the university.
During World War II, he devised the so-called ''Sedov Similarity Solution'' for a blast wave, now called Taylor–von Neumann–Sedov blast wave after three scientists who did that independently. In 1947 he was awarded the {{ill|Chaplygin Prize|ru|Премия имени С. А. Чаплыгина}}.
He was the first chairman of the USSR Space Exploration program and broke first news of its existence in 1955. He was president of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) from 1959 to 1961.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iafastro.com/index.php?id=86 |title=IAF President |access-date=2006-07-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210183653/http://www.iafastro.com/index.php?id=86 |archive-date=2007-12-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Until recently, it had been thought that Sedov was the principal engineer behind the Soviet Sputnik project.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/oct/01/russia.spaceexploration|title=Soviet scientist tells of Sputnik gamble|website=TheGuardian.com|date=October 2007}}</ref>
==Awards and honors==
* Order of the Badge of Honour (1943) * Two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour (1945, 1961) * Stalin Prize, 2nd class (1952) * Six Orders of Lenin (1954, 1963, 1967, 1975, 1980, 1987) * Hero of Socialist Labour (1967) * Allan D. Emil Memorial Award (1981)<ref>{{cite web |title=Allan D. Emil Memorial Award |url=https://www.iafastro.org/activities/honours-and-awards/allan-d-emil-memorial-award.html |publisher=International Astronautical Federation |access-date=16 October 2022}}</ref> * Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class (1998)
==See also== *Taylor–von Neumann–Sedov blast wave
== References == {{reflist}}
== Bibliography == *[https://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/sidfoot.html#8 Reference to 1955 announcement] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060421065350/http://www.iutam.net/iutam/Annual/annual2000.pdf Obituary notice] in ''Minutes of General Assembly Meetings, 2000'' section *Sedov, L. I., 1959, ''Similarity and Dimensional Methods in Mechanics'', 4th edn. Academic. * L.I. Sedov, A course in continuum mechanics. Volumes. I-IV. Wolters-Noordhoff Publishing, Netherlands, 1971. *Sedov, L. I., "Propagation of strong shock waves," ''Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics'', Vol. 10, pages 241–250 (1946). (See also: Barber–Layden–Power effect) *Reference to confusion with Ukrainian physicist Sergei Korolyov [https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070930/ap_on_sc/sputnik_s_secrets].
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sedov, Leonid}} Category:1907 births Category:1999 deaths Category:20th-century Russian mathematicians Category:20th-century Russian physicists Category:Scientists from Rostov-on-Don Category:Academic staff of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Category:Academic staff of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics Category:Baranov Central Institute of Aviation Motors employees Category:Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute employees Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Foreign members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Category:Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Category:Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences Category:Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour Category:Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class Category:Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize Category:Aerodynamicists Category:Russian space program personnel Category:Soviet inventors {{Russia-physicist-stub}} Category:Soviet mathematicians Category:Soviet physicists Category:Soviet space program personnel Category:Burials at Troyekurovskoye Cemetery