Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences: biography, research activities

The Russian academician Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov is a scientist who has achieved outstanding success in physical fields. He devoted his scientific career to studies of nonideal plasma, high energy densities and the mechanics of detonation and shock waves. Now he is the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Education

Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov was born on January 23, 1946 in Noginsk. In 1962 he entered the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology - Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. The circumstances of the applicant's entry into physics are quite curious. At school, Fortov practiced a lot, including playing for the national team of the RSFSR in basketball. Therefore, Vladimir did not think about the future university, since the quota could get to almost any institution outside the competition.

In the summer, when peers were deliberately preparing for the entrance examinations, Fortov spent his free time at his dacha with his relatives near Dolgoprudny (where MIPT is located). In fizteh his friend called. The entrant decided to take the exams "for testing" in order to just practice. Having come to MIPT by chance, Fortov eventually decided to go there.

The young man was at the faculty of aerophysics and space research. Already in the second year he began his scientific work. The head of the student was the thermophysicist and mechanic, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Vitaly Ievlev.

Fellowship

Fortov defended his thesis ahead of schedule (it was devoted to the thermodynamic problem of Fermi-Zel'dovich). The student graduated from the university and found himself at a crossroads. As a native of Noginsk, he did not have a Moscow residence permit and, according to the rules, had to go to Vladivostok by distribution. Before leaving Fortov last spoke at a scientific symposium. There he began to ask questions a certain scientist. According to the memoirs of Vladimir Evgenievich, he answered "cheekily". The argument ensued, and after the speech the scientist suggested that the young physicist develop the topic in a new scientific work. Fortov complained that he needed to leave for Vladivostok. Then his interlocutor (it was one of the father's atomic bomb, Yakov Zeldovich) asked Nobel laureate Nikolai Semenov to give the young man an apartment in Moscow, which would solve the problem of residence and distribution. So all was done. Fortov stayed in the capital and became a graduate student at MIPT.

This time the native for the young specialist was the Department of Physical Mechanics. In 1971, Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov defended his thesis and received a candidate 's degree in science. In his next work, the physicist considered the results of his own studies of nonideal plasma and shock waves.

Scientific research

After defending his thesis, Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov began working at the Institute of Chemical Physics. There the young specialist was recommended by Yakov Zeldovich.

In the Institute of Chemical Physics Fortov continued studies of extreme states of matter and shock-compressed plasma. The results of this work became the basis of the doctoral dissertation. Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov defended it in 1976. In the same period, the scientist began fruitful cooperation with Lev Altshuler.

Work in the space industry

Vladimir Fortov was not only involved in plasma research. He was interested in the shock wave loading of various materials and their kinetic, strength and thermomechanical characteristics under similar conditions. The scientist studied and looked for new mechanisms of destruction and deformation that arise with increased dynamic stress. The unique information and experience gained during these investigations proved to be extremely necessary in the 1980s with the advent of Vega, the International Space Program, in which Halley's comet was investigated .

The probes needed effective protection from meteorite impacts. This problem was just in the sphere of competence of Vladimir Fortov and his partners. Scientists have developed not only anti-shock protection for probes, but also dusty scientific instruments. All of them, being in space, coped with their task. In the research of shock phenomena, the Soviet defense complex was interested. In the mid-1980s, Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov, together with his Tomsk and Novosibirsk colleagues, conducted many studies related to the protective properties of materials used in the production of special equipment.

Experiences and Discoveries

Fortov Vladimir Evgenievich collaborated with many scientific centers during his research. The biography of the scientist is connected in different degrees with the institute of high temperatures and the Institute of General Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In the latter, Vladimir Fortov conducted experiments with pulsed laser beams, thanks to which it was possible to compute the computational models associated with cosmic meteorites. At the Institute of High Temperatures, he created a railgun electrodynamic accelerator.

In the 1980s, Vladimir Fortov began research on the detection of the method of converting explosive energy into the energy of electromagnetic radiation important in science. For them a special installation was built in the ICP, in which in 1987 it was possible to obtain for the first time the multimillion-watt pulses, typical for microwave radiation. The main inspirer of these successes was Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov. His nationality, age and other characteristics were pale before the trail he left in Soviet science.

Continuation of surveys

At the initiative of Vladimir Fortov in 1986, the Institute for High Temperatures began research on high-temperature thermal physics. Thanks to the work done, stands appeared, which are necessary for experiments with high impulse pressure and temperature. Soon they were applied and fundamental research, the object of which were the properties of substances that were in an extreme state.

For the study of fragile materials, Fortov created a unique spherical explosive chamber (in its kind the structure turned out to be the largest in the world). This equipment is still used. The chamber and other similar installations came to the Institute of Thermal Physics of Extreme Conditions, where a special center appeared at the RAS, specializing in all kinds of explosions.

Experimenter

The unique merit of Vladimir Fortov as a scientist is that he created an entirely new field of physical science - dynamic physics of dense plasma. For this he received the Percy Bridgman Award. The scientist was also noted in his homeland. In 1987, he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in 1991 - a member of the newly established Russian Academy of Sciences.

In the 1990s Vladimir Fortov developed his own works on the study of liquids and plasma crystals. Now he had at his disposal not only the usual laboratories, but also the Mir orbital complex, as well as the International Space Station. These studies became pioneer. They were carried out in a wide range of pressures and temperatures. Media were used such as a DC glow discharge plasma, a nuclear-excited plasma, an ultraviolet-induced plasma, a beam plasma, and so on.

On guard of science

Vladimir Fortov began to occupy responsible state and academic positions during the collapse of the USSR and the emergence of a new Russia. These were difficult years, and the scientist did everything that depended on him to negate the negative trends in domestic science. He headed the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.

Also, the physicist got to the government of the Russian Federation, where he became deputy chairman of the State Committee for Science. In the transitional period for the Russian science, Vladimir Fortov played a lot in the media, wrote articles and strongly defended the academic interests of the country. Thanks to his efforts, MVS 1000M appeared - a supercomputer capable of trillions of operations per second.

Election of the President of the RAS

In 2013, the general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences was held. At this event a new head of the Russian Academy of Sciences was elected. In addition to Fortov, Alexander Nekipelov and Zhores Aleferov claimed for the position. The voting was attended by more than 1,300 people. According to his results, Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov won. The President of the Russian Academy of Sciences scored 58% of the vote.

After choosing for such an important academic position, Vladimir Fortov took a turning point in his scientific career. The status and employment of the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences do not allow, as before, to engage in research. Many criticized the scientist for his "bureaucratic" choice.

Fortov himself explained his decision by becoming a president, from his point of view, he can bring much greater benefit to Russian science. His pre-election program was based on the idea of reorganizing the RAS. Many in the Academy came to the conclusion that it is time to conduct a serious reform of the national science. The same point of view was shared by Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov. The President of the Russian Academy of Sciences received an appointment, expressing the most popular point of view in the academic community of the country.

Passions around the reform of the RAS

A couple of months after the election of Fortov began the restructuring of the academy. However, its initiators at this time were not scientists, but officials from the Ministry of Education and Science. Because of this, Vladimir Evgenyevich had to start fighting against the bureaucracy. In his interviews, he noted that he would not allow the RAS to be reformed by officials who had nothing to do with it. The whole world experience, the academy president emphasized, shows that such serious academic transformations should be initiated only by scientists themselves, sufficiently competent in what they do.

His main achievement at the first stage of his new post, Fortov, called the end of the "barbarism" committed by the Ministry of the Interior. The fact is that because of economic reasons, the department offered the government of the country to create a commission for the liquidation of the Academy of Sciences. Fortov, Vladimir Evgenievich, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, whose contacts were known in high offices, was able to stop this initiative.

Awards and recognition

Vladimir Fortov remains the head of the department of high-temperature physics at MIPT. The scientist continues to pay much attention to the training of young scientists. Dozens of doctoral and candidate dissertations were defended under his leadership.

President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov independently or in co-authorship published two dozen monographs and more than 300 articles in domestic and foreign journals. The scientist became a laureate of international prizes Karpinsky (in 1997), Bridgman (in 1999), Planck (in 2002), Alfvén (in 2003), Duval (in 2005) and Glass (in 2009 .). Also, the physicist is the owner of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland II degree and the Order of Alexander Nevsky. Fortov Vladimir Evgenievich, whose contacts are conducted in the Russian Academy of Sciences, and today continues its active activity for the benefit of Russian science.