physics

Simon Shnoll

Simon Shnoll is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Simon Shnoll rather than just read about it. In short: Simon El'evich Shnol (Russian: Симон Эльевич Шноль; 21 March 1930 – 11 September 2021) was a biophysicist, and a historian of Soviet science. He was a professor at Physics Department of Moscow State University and a member of Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

Key takeaways

Simon Shnoll belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Simon Shnoll to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Simon Shnoll from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Simon El'evich Shnol (Russian: Симон Эльевич Шноль; 21 March 1930 – 11 September 2021) was a biophysicist, and a historian of Soviet science. He was a professor at Physics Department of Moscow State University and a member of Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. His fields of interest were the oscillatory processes in biology, the theory of evolution, chronobiology, and the history of science. He had mentored many successful scientists, including Anatoly Zhabotinsky.

Biography Simon Shnoll was born in Moscow in 1930. His father was Eli Gershevich Shnol, a linguist and philosopher. His mother was Faina Yakovlevna Yudovich, a teacher of Russian language and literature. In 1946, he was enrolled to Moscow State University (MSU). After graduation, he was engaged in developing new methods for using radioactive isotopes in medicine, in the Central Institute for Improvement of Medicine in Moscow, where he worked until 1959. In 1960 he went to work at MSU. Since 1975 he taught as a Professor of Biophysics. Since 1963, he was the head of Laboratory of Physical Biochemistry at the Institute of Biophysics in Pushchino. The first scientific papers were devoted to ATPases and the use of radioactive isotopes in experimental and clinical studies. He was married and has a son, Alexey Kondrashov.

Research From 1954 to 1957, Shnoll demonstrated a high probability of oscillatory modes in biochemical reactions. Study of chemical oscillating reactions conducted under his direction gained prominence to his graduate student Anatoly Zhabotinsky, who investigated in detail the reaction previously discovered by Boris Belousov. He later worked in the fields of Chronobiology and Astrobiology. He was the author of over 200 scientific papers. He was also author of the books "Physico-chemical factors of biological evolution" (1979) and "Heroes, villains, and conformists of Russian Science" (2001). He mentored 70 successful PhD students. A minor planet «Shnollia» was named after him. During many years, Simon Shnoll was a jury chairman on Biology Olympiads conducted at Moscow State University. He was a member of editorial board of Russian journal "Priroda" ("Nature").

Selected publications S. Shnoll Physico-chemical factors of biological evolution. - Moscow: Nauka, 1979. - 263. S. Shnoll Cosmophysical factors in random processes . - Stockholm (Sweden): Svenska fysikarkivat, 2009. - 388. - ISBN 978-91-85917-06-8

See also Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction

References

External links Biography (in Russian) Biography of Zhabotinsky, in which Shnoll is mentioned

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Simon Shnoll

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Simon Shnoll claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Simon Shnoll before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Simon Shnoll ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Simon Shnoll

In research: Simon Shnoll appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Simon Shnoll in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Simon Shnoll is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1930 births, 2021 deaths, Academic staff of Moscow State University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Simon Shnoll outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Simon Shnoll in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Simon Shnoll means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Simon Shnoll out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Simon Shnoll in simple terms?

Why does Simon Shnoll matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Simon Shnoll?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Simon Shnoll.