<P> The birth of the modern widely accepted theory of planetary formation -- the solar nebular disk model ( SNDM ) -- can be traced to the Soviet astronomer Victor Safronov . His 1969 book Evolution of the protoplanetary cloud and formation of the Earth and the planets , which was translated to English in 1972 , had a long - lasting effect on the way scientists think about the formation of the planets . In this book almost all major problems of the planetary formation process were formulated and some of them solved . Safronov 's ideas were further developed in the works of George Wetherill , who discovered runaway accretion . While originally applied only to the Solar System , the SNDM was subsequently thought by theorists to be at work throughout the Universe ; as of 1 December 2017 astronomers have discovered 3,710 extrasolar planets in our galaxy . </P>
<P> The birth of the modern widely accepted theory of planetary formation -- the solar nebular disk model ( SNDM ) -- can be traced to the Soviet astronomer Victor Safronov . His 1969 book Evolution of the protoplanetary cloud and formation of the Earth and the planets , which was translated to English in 1972 , had a long - lasting effect on the way scientists think about the formation of the planets . In this book almost all major problems of the planetary formation process were formulated and some of them solved . Safronov 's ideas were further developed in the works of George Wetherill , who discovered runaway accretion . While originally applied only to the Solar System , the SNDM was subsequently thought by theorists to be at work throughout the Universe ; as of 1 December 2017 astronomers have discovered 3,710 extrasolar planets in our galaxy . </P>
who proposed the modern model of the solar system
who proposed the modern model of the solar system
Victor Safronov
Victor Safronov