Moisei Alexandrovich Markov (born 13.05.1908) is a Soviet theoretical physicist and an academician (1966; a corresponding member in 1953). He was born in the village of Rasskazovo (now in Tambov region). He graduated from Moscow University (1930) and from 1934 has worked at the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1951 he has also been at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna). At the same time he taught for many years at Moscow University.
His work is in the field of non-relativistic quantum mechanics, classical electrodynamics, quantum field theory, elementary particle physics, the theory of gravitation, neutrino physics and the methodology of physics. In 1940 he was one of the first to use the method of the many-time formalism in theoretical constructions, and at the same time he put forward the idea of a theory of non-localised fields. In 1953 he developed the concept of a dynamically deformed form factor and, starting from it, concluded that a large number of excited states of mesons and baryons with very short lifetimes could exist.
He was one of the first Soviet theoreticians to begin drawing up programmes of experiments for solving fundamental problems of elementary particle physics on accelerators. A number of the forecasts Markov proposed were confirmed in time, in particular those concerning the search for unstable, short-lived elementary particles (resonances). His research also concerned models and the classification of elementary particles. In recent years he has been studying the influence of gravitation on the properties of elementary particles. He created a model of an elementary particle of the greatest possible mass (the maximon) and of a particle with a microscopic total mass and size (the friedmon).
He contributed to neutrino physics. In 1950 he studied the physical manifestations of the neutrino and the antineutrino, in 1957 he concluded that the neutrinos emitted in beta decay and those emitted with a muon are not identical, and he proposed (1958 — 61) the setting up of underground neutrino experiments to study the interaction of neutrinos at high energies and to search for possible sources of extragalactic neutrinos. He put forward (1964) the idea of “neutrino” stars.
Hero of Socialist Labour (1978). From 1967 he has been academician-secretary of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.