About Sergey Vavilov
Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov (Russian: Серге́й Ива́нович Вави́лов [sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ vɐˈvʲiləf]; 24 March [O.S. 12 March] 1891 – January 25, 1951) was a Soviet physicist, the president of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union from July 1945 until his death. His elder brother Nikolai Vavilov was a famous Russian geneticist. == Biography == Vavilov founded the Soviet school of physical optics, known by his works in luminescence. In 1934 he co-discovered the Vavilov-Cherenkov effect, a discovery for which Pavel Cherenkov was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1958. The Kasha–Vavilov rule of luminescence quantum yields is also named for him. He was a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences from 1932, Head of the Lebedev Institute of Physics (since 1934), a chief editor of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, a member of the Supreme Soviet from 1946 and a recipient of two Stalin Prizes second degree (1943, 1951 — posthumously) and two Stalin Prizes first degree (1946, 1952 – posthumously). He wrote on the lives and works of great thinkers, such as Lucretius, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Mikhail Lomonosov, Michael Faraday, and Pyotr Lebedev, among others. At the end of 1950, Vavilov's health deteriorated significantly. He had been suffering from heart and lung diseases. In December-January he was treated at the Barvikha Sanatorium.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.