Alexander Evgenyevich Chudakov (born 16.06.1921) - Soviet experimental physicist, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1966). Born in Moscow. Graduated from Moscow University (1948). In 1946-71 he worked at the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and from 1971 at the Institute for Nuclear Research of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Professor at Moscow University.
His research was in the field of cosmic-ray physics, nuclear physics and elementary particle physics. At high energies he discovered the weakening of the ionisation caused by an electron-positron pair (the Chudakov effect) (1949) and transition radiation (1953), which V. L. Ginzburg and I. M. Frank had predicted in 1945. He developed apparatus for detecting cosmic radiation to be mounted on rockets and satellites. Together with others he discovered (1958) and studied the outer radiation belt of the Earth (Lenin Prize, 1960). He studied the Cherenkov glow of extensive air showers and carried out a calorimetric measurement of the energy of a cascade by detecting its Cherenkov radiation. He built the first water Cherenkov calorimeter (1957 — 60) and developed a method for studying fluxes of high-energy gamma quanta. In 1963 — 78 he built an underground scintillation telescope for studying neutrinos and muons of cosmic rays.