Albert Galeev

Albert A.Galeev is the director of the Russian Academy of Sciences Space Research Institute (IKI RAN in Russian), Moscow, Russia. He was elected to this post of other alternative candidates in November 1988.

As IKI director, Academician A.A.Galeev is responsible for planning, organizing and directing the day-to-day scientific and administrative activities aimed at accomplishment of the main space projects assigned to the Institute under the Russian Federal space program.

Presently, as IKI director, A.A.Galeev has on the agenda such major international missions as Interball project (Tail Probe (1995), Auroral Probe (1996)) and preparation of Spectrum-X-Gamma project.
Prior to his promotion to the present position, for fifteen years (1973-1988), A.Galeev headed the Space Plasma Physics Department and together with his scientific team contributed to a number of successful international space projects. The most prominent among them were the Venera-Halley project studying the planet of Venus and the Halley comet and the other world-wide known project Phobos aimed to study the planet of Mars, its magnetosphere and the Phobos satellite. Both projects were implemented at IKI under supervision of Academician R.Z.Sagdeev, IKI ex-director. As the scientific leader A.A.Galeev was responsible for the performance of the Prognoz-8 and Intershock projects with the particular emphasis on studying plasma phenomena responsible for the formation of collisionless shock front, heating of plasma and acceleration of particles.Yet A.A.Galeev never stopped working as a theoretician in the field of Plasma Physics. His major contributions to the basic plasma theory were the development of the theory of weak interaction of waves in plasma that served as a building block of the weak plasma turbulence theory. The lecture course given by A.A.Galeev and R.Z.Sagdeev in Trieste, Italy in 1966 was published later as the book by Benjamin. A.A.Galeev and R.Z.Sageev have developed the famous neoclassical theory of plasma transport in TOKAMAKs for which they have been awarded the Lenin Prize in Science and Technology in 1984.

While heading the Space Plasma Physics Department at IKI (1973-1988) he developed together with his colleagues the theories of such fundamental processes in a space plasma as the explosive magnetic field line reconnection in magnetospheric tail, the ionization of a rarefied neutral gas by the magnetized plasma flow with the velocity exceeding the critical value (H.Alfven phenomenon), the hard X-ray radiation from the accretion disk corona around black holes, the electron acceleration in the quasiperpendicular collisionless shocks by the lower hybrid waves generated by the beam of ions reflected from shock front, the formation and structure of cometary bow shock in the mass-loaded solar wind and the theory of solar wind stagnation in the cometary coma.

Beginning with 1964, A.Galeev has devotedly been standing as a teacher, first at the Novosibirsk State University (till 1970) and later, since transfer 1973 to IKI - at the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology (MIPT). His performance as a teacher and high-rated achievements in theoretical physics contributed to establishing his own scientific school in the field of space plasma physics which amalgamates both well-known physicists and undergraduates.

Born in the city of Ufa, A. Galeev was awarded the Gold medal on finishing the secondary school in 1957, entered the Moscow Energetic Institute and four years later (in 1961) transferred to the Department of Physics of the Novosibirsk State University to graduate it in 1963. His first scientific work co-authored with V.N.Oraevskii - the present director of Institute for Terrestrial Magnetizm Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation (IZMIRAN), was published in 1962, when A.Galeev was a student.

In 1964 A.Galeev received a Ph.D on Physics and Mathematics and less than four years later (1967) - a D.Sc. That year he was awarded the honorable State Prize of Lenin Comsomol for Science and Technology for works on plasma confinement in magnetic traps.

From 1961 to 1970 he worked at the USSR Academy of Sciences (Siberian Branch) Institute of Nuclear Physics founded by Academician G.I.Budker.

The role of such prominent scientists as Academicians G.I.Budker and R.Z.Sagdeev can't be overrated in formation of A.Galeev as a scientist..

In 1970 A.Galeev moved to Moscow to work at the USSR Academy of Sciences Institute of High Temperatures. Since transferring to Space Research Institute (IKI) in 1973 up till now this institute has become an integral part of his life as a scientist.

In 1992 he was elected the Full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, prior to it in 1985 - the member of the International Academy of Austronautics, in 1990 - the member of the Academiae Europaeae, in 1994 - the foreign member of the Max Plank Society. In 1993 A.A.Galeev received the title 'de Docteur Honoris Causa L'Universite de Paris - sud' and von Karman Prize of International Academy of Astronautics.

Postal Address Space Research Institute (IKI)
84/32 Profsoyuznaya Str, Moscow, Russia 117810
Telephone Number +7(095)333-25-88
e-mail agaleev@iki.rssi.ru