Nikolai Semenovich Kardashev (Russian: ??????ยด? ????????? ????????, IPA: [n??k?'laj s??'m??n?v??t? k?rd?'?of]; 25 April 1932 โ 3 August 2019) was a Soviet and Russian astrophysicist, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and the deputy director of the Astro Space Center of PN Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.