Anatoly Alexandrovich Vlasov (20.08.1908-22.12.1975) was a Soviet theoretical physicist and a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. He was born in the town of Balashov. He graduated from Moscow University (1931), where he worked (professor from 1944, head of a department in 1945—53).
His research concerned plasma physics, optics, the theory of the crystalline state, the theory of gravitation and the statistical theory of the multiple production of particles. He introduced the concept of collective oscillations, which is widely used in the study of many-particle systems, and developed a theory of the vibrational properties of the electron gas. He proposed (1938) a new kinetic equation for a plasma which takes into account the collective interactions between charged particles (the Vlasov equation). He developed a method of studying the properties of plasma. For a series of papers on the theory of plasma he was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1970. M. V. Lomonosov Prize (1944).