Nikolai Kardashev
1932–2019 (age 87)
Biography
Nikolai Semyonovich Kardashev (Russian: Никола́й Семёнович Кардашёв, romanized: Nikolay Semyonovich Kardashyov, IPA: [nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲɪˈmʲɵnəvʲɪtɕ kərdɐˈʂof]; April 25, 1932 – August 3, 2019) was a Soviet and Russian astrophysicist best known for the Kardashev scale, which measures a civilization's status in technological evolution based on the amount of energy it is capable of harnessing and using. He was also the deputy director of the Astro Space Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.