Ihor Rafailovych Yukhnovskyi (Ukrainian: Iгор Рафаïлович Юхновський; also Yukhnovsky; 1 September 1925 – 26 March 2024) was a Ukrainian physicist and politician,[1] and a member of the Presidium of Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine.
On 30 March 1990, Yukhnovskyi was elected with 59.07% votes (out of 6 candidates) as a member of parliament of Ukrainian SSR from an election district in the city of Lviv. On 15 May 1990, he became the leader of the first ever opposition party in the Ukrainian SSR parliament named "Narodna Rada" (People’s Council).
During the 24 August 1991 parliamentary debate preceding the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine Yukhnovskyi was the MP who first called on parliament to immediately declare Ukraine an independent democratic state.[3]
Yukhnovsky was an author of over 400 scientific papers, five books and a textbook "Osnovy kvantovoyi mekhaniky" (Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics). As a member of the parliament he actively participated in passing of over 100 bills. He was one of the authors of the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.