Russian astrophysicist whose use of quantum theory in a study of Cherenkov radiation contributed to the development of nuclear physics. He was one of the first to believe that cosmic background radiation comes from beyond our own Galaxy.
Ginzburg was born and educated in Moscow and spent his career there at the Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences.
Ginzburg also formulated the theory of a molecule containing particles with varying degrees of motion, for which he devised the first relativistically invariant wave equation. After 1950, he concentrated on problems in thermonuclear reactions. His work on cosmic rays led him to a hypothesis about their origin and to the conclusion that they can be accelerated in a supernova.