Veniamin Pavlovich Chebotaev (born 27.08.1938) — Soviet physicist, a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1981). Born in Kuibyshev. Graduated from the Novosibirsk Electrotechnical Institute (1960). In 1960 — 64 he worked at the Institute of Radio Electronics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in 1964-74 at the Institute of Semiconductor Physics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and since 1974 he has been deputy director of the Institute of Thermophysics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk). He is also a professor at the Novosibirsk Electrotechnical Institute.
His research concerned quantum electronics and laser physics, in particular the production of narrow resonances. In 1967, together with V. S. Letokhov and V. N. Lisitsyn, he proposed one of the effective methods of stabilising the frequency of gas lasers — the method of an intracavity nonlinear-absorbing cell. He predicted (1970) narrow two-photon resonances. He created frequency-stable lasers and a time standard, and developed new types of tunable lasers and of infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers. He carried out precision experiments on observing quantum and relativistic optical effects.
For the development and application of nonlinear narrow resonances in optics he was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1978.