Vladimir Belousov

Vladimir Vladimirovich Belousov ( in Moscow – December 25, 1990) was an Earth scientist in the Soviet Union, and a prominent advocate of alternatives to the theories of plate tectonics and seafloor spreading during the period of intense debate on these subjects in the 20th century.

Belousov was head of the Geodynamics Department at the Institute of the Physics of the Earth in Moscow (from 1944). He was a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (from 1953), and a professor at both the Moscow Geological Surveyance Institute (from 1943) and Moscow State University (from 1953). From 1960 to 1963, Belousov was President of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG). Additionally, he was also a Foreign Member of the Geological Society of London.

In 1942, Belousov advanced the theory that the Earth's material had gradually differentiated according to its density, leading to the current internal structure of the Earth. He proposed that this gradual movement was the basic cause of movements in the Earth's crust.

During the 1960s, he led three expeditions to the East African Rift to study continental structure and the Earth's mantle. These trips fueled his belief that continental crust was transformed into oceanic crust through widespread processes involving basic magmas.

Although his theories were ultimately rejected by the scientific community, Belousov was an important figure in the development of the Earth sciences within the Soviet union following the Second World War.