Education
Safronov graduated from Moscow State University Department of Mechanics and Mathematics in 1941.
Safronov graduated from Moscow State University Department of Mechanics and Mathematics in 1941.
His scientific interests were planetary cosmogony, astrophysics and geophysics. His planetesimal hypothesis of planet formation is still widely accepted among astronomers, although alternative theories exist (such as the gravitational fragmentation of the protoplanetary disk directly into planets). A minor planet 3615 Safronov, discovered by United States-American astronomer Edward L. G. Bowell in 1983 is named after him.
Safronov"s work is discussed at length in the British Broadcasting Corporation documentary The Planets (television miniseries).
He defended a dissertation for the Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in 1968.