death_date death_place birth_place image_size nationality field birth_date known_for image article_title prizes
08 january 2002 moscow , russia atherton , queensland , australia 200px soviet russian physics 11 july 1916 lasers and masers aleksandr prokhorov.jpg alexander prokhorov
 1964 nobel prize in physics 1987 lomonosov gold medal
alexander prokhorov

alexander mikhaylovich prokhorov , or aleksandr mikhailovich prokhorov , -lrb- ; 11 july 1916 -- 8 january 2002 -rrb- was a soviet physicist known for his pioneering research on lasers and masers for which he shared the nobel prize in physics in 1964 with charles hard townes and nikolay basov .
