Evgeny Velikhov graduated from the Department of Physics at M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1958, where he specialized in theoretical physics. From 1958 until 1961, he studied at graduate school. After completing his graduate work, he began work as a junior researcher at the Institute of Atomic Energy, the precursor institution to the Russian Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute". He spent most of his scientific career rising through the ranks of this famous federal scientific agency. His early work regarding fluid and plasma instabilities led to the discovery of the magnetorotational instability in 1959 and the electrothermal instability in 1962. In 1964, he defended his thesis before receiving his Doctor of Science degree in physics and mathematics. In 1968, he obtained the rank of Professor of atomic physics, plasma physics and microelectronics at the Physics Department of Moscow State University. In 1973, he became the head of the Department until 1988. In 1971, he became a member of the Communist Party. From 1971 to 1978, he was the director of the Magnetic Laboratory, a branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1956, and subdivision of Kurchatov Institute since 1961, at Troitsk, Moscow Oblast. In 1972, he founded an energy and space plasma research department at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, with a base in this branch of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy. In 1975, he established another new department at Phystech in order to study the problems of physics and energy, for which he received the honor of chair of plasma energy. The next year, he was appointed as the first dean of the Faculty of Physics For Energy, a R&D department of fusion energy specialized in plasma and high pressure physics, quantum optics, laser and space technologies. Ten years later, in 1986, he was promoted as the scientific director of FPFE. In 1988, he was named director of Kurchatov Institute and chairman of the international programme for the creation of the thermonuclear experimental tokamakITER, and has been its president from 1992 until the present. In 2009 he was elected Chair of the ITER Council, the governing body of ITER. He is also president of the joint stock companyRosshelf, Gazprom's subsidiary; and co-chairman of Relcomboard of directors. Evgeny Velikhov currently resides in Moscow.
Awards
Evgeny Velikhov is well known in the world scientific and engineering community for his diverse activities, for which he has received several honors and awards, among which:
Order of Merit 3rd Class - for his significant personal contribution to overcoming the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, the implementation of international humanitarian programs, many years of fruitful public activity
