Vadim Berezinskii

Soviet theoretical physicist who, in two papers of 1970–71, showed that topological defects (vortices) govern the low-temperature phase and the phase transition in two-dimensional systems with continuous symmetry. This transition is now named Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless (the 'B' honours him); Kosterlitz and Thouless received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics for its fuller development. He is listed among Jewish physicists in Jinfo.org's index; no other independent documentation of his Jewish identity was found.