Leonid Brekhovskikh
Soviet scientist (1917–2005)
Leonid Maksimovich Brekhovskikh (6 May 1917 – 15 January 2005; Russian: Леони́д Макси́мович Бреховски́х) was a Soviet and Russian scientist known for his work in acoustical and physical oceanography.
Early life and education
Brekhovskikh was born to a peasant family in Strunkino, a small village in Vologda Governorate (now Arkhangelsk Oblast), Russia. He graduated from Perm State University in 1939, from which he received his university degree, and studied under Igor Tamm at the Lebedev Physical Institute (FIAN). There, he received his Candidate of Sciences degree (PhD) in Physics in 1941 for his thesis on X-ray crystallography. After his PhD, he joined FIAN's acoustical laboratories and worked on a naval defence project to develop protection against acoustically triggered mines. He later developed a theory of the propagation of acoustical waves in layered media, for which he received his DSc in Physics and Mathematics from FIAN in 1947.
Research work
During 1946, his research in the Sea of Japan led him to the discovery of the deep sound channel, a concept which would eventually lead to the foundation of modern acoustical oceanography. This was discovered independently by Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel in the US almost at the same time. In 1953, Brekhovskikh left FIAN and founded the Andreyev Acoustics Institute in Moscow, which he directed until 1961 (he remained a department head there until his leaving, in 1980). At the Acoustics Institute, he participated in the construction and design of two acoustical research ships, the Sergey Vavilov and the Pyotr Lebedev, which participated in the POLYGON experiment along with four other ships.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Leonid Brekhovskikh” is soviet scientist (1917–2005). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Leonid, Brekhovskikh and Soviet, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “soviet scientist (1917–2005)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4096384. VIAF identifies the subject as 60369470. The Library of Congress control number is n79146820. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1917, 2005, 1939 and 1941.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Leonid Brekhovskikh”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Leonid Brekhovskikh primary sources, Leonid Brekhovskikh archive and Leonid research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Leonid Brekhovskikh”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Leonid Brekhovskikh” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.