Vladimir Fortov

Vladimir Fortov
File:Президент РАН Владимир Фортов.jpeg
President of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 May 2013
Personal details
Born	(1946-01-23) 23 January 1946 Noginsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Alma mater	Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
Profession	Academic of Russian Academy of Sciences

Vladimir Yevgenyevich Fortov (Russian: Владимир Евгеньевич Фортов, born 23 January 1946 in Noginsk, Moscow Oblast) is a Russian physicist and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; on 29 May 2013 he was elected its president. Before the election, Fortov was the director of the Joint Institute for High Temperatures.

Fortov studied physics at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, where he graduated from in 1968. In 1971, he received his Candidate of Sciences degree, and in 1976 the Doctor of Sciences degree. Since 1982, he was a professor at the same university. Between 1971 and 1986 Fortov was employed at the Institute of Chemical Physics in Chernogolovka, and between 1986 and 1992, still being a part-time researcher at the same institution, he was also employed by the Joint Institute for High Temperatures. In 1992, he was appointed the director of this institute.

From 1993 to 1997, Fortov was the chairman of the Russian Foundation of Fundamental Research, the governmental organization responsible for funding of fundamental research. In 1996, he also became a chairman of the State Committee of Science and Technology, and later a minister of science and technology. The government he was a part of retired in 1998.

According to the law, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences is formally appointed by the President of the Russian Federation. Vladimir Putin, who at the time was the president of Russia, only signed the appointment of Fortov on 8 July 2013. This is because Fortov strongly criticized the reform of the Academy initiated by Putin.

The research of Fortov was related to thermal physics, shock waves, and plasma physics. He was involved with applications, in particular, to energy production.

Recognition

• National awards: Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1986), USSR State Prize (1988), Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (IV class) (1996), State Prize of the Russian Federation (1997), Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow" (1998), Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (III class) (1999), Jubilee Medal "300 Years of the Russian Navy" (2000), Order of Honour (2006), Order of Friendship (2011), Order of Alexander Nevsky (2013), Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (II class) (2016).
• International awards: Hannes Alfvén Prize (2003), UNESCO Albert Einstein medal (2005), Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2006), Legion of Honour (2006), Global Energy Prize (2013)