Sedov

Sedov is a Russian surname that appears in various scientific and cultural contexts. In science, the name is most closely associated with a foundational class of solutions in gas dynamics and hydrodynamics.

Leonid Ivanovich Sedov was a Soviet physicist who contributed to the theory of hydrodynamics and gas dynamics. The Sedov–Taylor solution, named in part for him, is a self-similar description of how a strong explosion expands into a uniform medium.

The Sedov–Taylor blast wave describes the evolution of a blast when energy is released instantaneously at a point in an ideal, homogeneous medium. It is an important model in fluid dynamics, astrophysics, and plasma physics. The solution predicts a spherical, adiabatic shock front with a radius that grows over time roughly as R(t) ∝ t2/5 in three dimensions, with the exact form depending on the gas’s adiabatic index. Because it relies on symmetry and conservation laws rather than detailed microphysics, it provides scaling laws that help interpret observations of supernova remnants, laboratory explosions, and related phenomena.

Apart from the Sedov–Taylor context, the surname Sedov appears among other individuals in science and culture, particularly within Russian-language sources. The term thus denotes both a family name and a set of related scientific concepts tied to early work in blast-wave dynamics.