Evgeny Velikhov

Evgeny Pavlovich Velikhov (born on February 2, 1935; in Russian: Евгений Велихов) is a physicist and scientific leader in the Russian Federation. His scientific interests include plasma physics, lasers, controlled nuclear fusion, power engineering and magnetohydrodynamics (high-power pulsed MHD generators). He is the author of over 1500 scientific publications and a number of inventions and discoveries.

He currently holds the post of president of the Kurchatov Institute (named after Igor Kurchatov) and first Secretary (head) of the Public Chamber of Russia. He is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and has been the vice-president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

Evgeny Velikhov graduated from the Department of Physics at M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) 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 (RRC) "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.

...
Wikipedia