George Zweig (born 20.05.1937) - American physicist, a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Born in Moscow. Graduated from the University of Michigan (1959). Since 1964 he has worked at the California Institute of Technology (professor since 1967). His research concerned elementary particle physics (the classification of particles and the development of the quark model). In 1964, independently of M. Gell-Mann, he put forward the quark hypothesis, and in 1969 he proposed a model of hadrons according to which they are complex structures formed from the simplest constituents, the quarks: baryons consist of three quarks, and mesons of a quark and an antiquark. To explain the decay of the φ meson within the quark model of hadrons he formulated the so-called “Zweig rule”.