Alexander Sergeev President of the Russian Academy of Sciences biography. A comment

- Alexander Mikhailovich, why did you decide to take part in the election race and who supported you?

To be honest, until mid-April of this year I had no idea of ​​running for president of the Academy of Sciences, but these events made me look more concerned about what was happening.

The trust of my fellow physicists is very valuable to me. I believe that the Department of Physical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences is in many ways fundamental for the Academy - both in science, and in relations with industry and the defense industry, and in the democratic principles of existence. It is very important to me that physicists have placed their trust in me. Thanks to their support, I made this decision.

- What is your election program?

There is no program as such - it will have to be developed by a team. I have my own vision, the concept of the program. I believe that in the existing legislative field there is a huge amount of density so that the Academy of Sciences can position itself as a leading force consolidating the efforts of the country's scientists in the field of fundamental research. And at the same time, so that the Academy remains an organization functioning on the democratic principles that now exist. In our Lately, especially due to the fact that elections did not take place in March, there is a certain mistrust between the RAS and government agencies that needs to be overcome. I advocate that we should conduct business in such a way that in our country the government and science are proud of each other. This is a certain basic thesis on which the program is built.

- As far as we know, you have worked all your life at the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Yes. In my work book there is one place of work, namely the IPF. It happened so, and by the way, I think this is one of the significant points that now attracts many academic people to me, especially during the election campaign: I went through all the steps. I was a research intern, junior researcher, senior researcher, head of a laboratory, head of a department, director of a department, deputy director of scientific work, director. Therefore, I know well how work is organized at an academic institute at each such “step”.

I graduated from university in 1977. It was this year that the Institute of Applied Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences was organized. It turned out in my destiny that I was in the right place at the right time. It’s impossible to think of anything more successful. A new institute is being organized - an academic one, with very serious tasks facing it. The institute is headed by an outstanding scientist - Andrei Viktorovich Gaponov-Grekhov. A very fortunate situation, and indeed, I found myself in a strong, working team. I could have ended up in another department, but I ended up in the plasma physics department. It happened. This department was headed by Mikhail Adolfovich Miller, completely unique person, a scientist of encyclopedic and keen mind. I ended up in a laboratory headed by Alexander Grigorievich Litvak, a young and energetic scientist; he later became the second director of the IAP AN. I inherited IPF AN from him.

And your dissertation was on plasma. But why is her topic so different from her doctoral dissertation, “optical”? Or do they actually follow from one another?

I will answer: both dissertations are based on the same ideology - so to speak, physical. These are nonlinear waves in different environments. In general, I am a representative - and proud of it - of the Nizhny Novgorod School of Radiophysicists. Radiophysics includes both optics and acoustics, electromagnetic waves, waves in a solid body, waves in the ocean, waves in the atmosphere, gravitational waves. All people working with different types waves, understand each other in this “wave language”. This general “wave” ideology, in particular, explains why people write a candidate’s dissertation about plasma or some kind of electromagnetic waves in microwaves and plasma, and write a doctoral dissertation on optics or in relation to laser physics. There is a lot in common and understanding.

Why did I slightly change the direction of my research? Because the situation began to change a lot. A very interesting direction has emerged - “femtosecond optics”. Lasers were invented in 1960, as you know. This is a special tool in terms of its relationship with nonlinear waves, because a laser is a powerful radiation that can be focused. There are very high intensities. These are precisely the main conditions when so-called “nonlinear processes” develop, that is, when the effect is not directly proportional to the cause. You increase the impact by five times, and the result can be 50 times less or 1000 times more. The nonlinearity is primarily when you have such powerful radiation.

Femtosecond optics is the optics of ultrashort laser pulses. "Femto" is 10 to the minus 15th power. In the mid-1980s, interesting results appeared on obtaining very short laser pulses with a duration of several tens of femtoseconds. It became clear that a completely new page was opening in many sciences. First of all, short pulses make it possible to study unexplored processes in matter on a new time slice, for example, processes in molecules. And it also becomes possible to manage processes with very high speed, including in information systems.

So what is intensity, you understand? It's the energy divided by the time that that energy is concentrated, divided by the area of ​​the spot into which you focused the radiation. The spot can no longer be reduced much; they have reached almost the limit: there is a certain limiting diffraction scale, as they say, on the order of the radiation wavelength. Either you must increase the energy in the laser pulse - this is an extensive way: increase the size of the installation itself, increase the number of capacitors into which you pump this energy, and then convert it into energy laser radiation. And the most intelligent and elegant way is to reduce the denominator. And here, when the opportunity arose to receive short femtosecond pulses, it became clear that this was the way to achieve fields of enormous intensity at relatively low energies.

But if you know how to compress these impulses into very small intervals, you will get gigantic intensities. It was an absolute drive! Everyone suddenly realized: we can generally obtain gigantic intensities and powers in small rooms, it’s like a cafe where you and I sit, and not on giant installations. And by the beginning of the 21st century, such a petawatt laser was made to produce super-strong fields. This is a power level of 1 petawatt. "Peta" is the opposite of "femto", 10 to the 15th power. The first laser of this power in the country and the third or fourth in the world was created at our institute in 2006.

But if you know how to compress these impulses into very small intervals, you will get gigantic intensities. It was an absolute drive!

- You also worked on a project to create the powerful laser in the world. This project was included by the government among six megascience class projects for implementation in 2013-2020?

- XCELS is a twelve-channel laser project, each of which will have 15 or slightly more petawatts, for a total of up to 200 petawatts, the so-called “subexawatt” power level. And plus coherent addition of channels. We want to combine femtosecond pulses from 12 channels coherently at some point in space and obtain radiation there with such intensity and fields that will destroy the vacuum. For the first time, it will be possible to study its spatiotemporal structure.

Perhaps this is the most serious mystery, the study of which motivates many people in high-energy physics and strong-field physics. No one now knows what a physical vacuum is. Is this emptiness? Isn't it empty? Or maybe we just don’t have enough energy yet to explore its properties? By analogy: we did not know the structure of the atom until it was destroyed. It's like a child taking his toys apart to figure out how they work. When we had the opportunity to destroy atoms, we saw that there was an electron and a positively charged particle. This was progress in understanding the structure of matter. Or maybe, in a vacuum, we simply do not have enough intensity of the fields that we influence in order to “dig”? It will collapse into something we can see, such as a super-dense electron-positron plasma, just like when we learned the structure of an atom or nucleus. In these very short time intervals, essentially moments, we will create and experience completely new world. This will be great, the strongest motivation for scientists!

- Does this laser still have no analogues?

We say that if such an installation had been built, relatively speaking, in 2020, then during the ten years of its existence it would have had no equal in the world. Then - yes, it would be possible to build an even more powerful one. XCELS is a research infrastructure project based on a sub-exawatt laser. Just as a synchrotron is surrounded by workstations and its radiation is used for certain needs, this too should be a research infrastructure. This is a unique radiation, with such parameters that it can be used for one and the other, the fifth and the tenth. And there should be many laboratories around this laser. Laser fields that can already be obtained today using ultra-powerful lasers are four to five orders of magnitude greater than the limiting fields that can be used in traditional accelerators. Particle acceleration tracks can be reduced by tens of thousands of times. Instead of an acceleration path of several kilometers, you can get an equivalent acceleration path of one meter. This is a huge qualitative gain. If you have one compact system, then you can do high-energy physics anywhere.

- You said that XCELS will be implemented, say, in 2020. Will it happen?

You know, I can say without complaining about space and time: we live in Russia and we want to live here, otherwise we would have left - now we have a choice. But we have problems with science now: this project has slowed down, and I would even venture to suggest that almost no major scientific projects are starting in the country.

- Due to lack of funding?

The reason is not only that there is little money for science and that it needs to be increased multiple times. The reasons are largely organizational. Without making excuses for the Academy of Sciences, I can once again confirm this is the opinion of both mine and the vast majority of my colleagues: the transformations that were carried out in 2013 were harmful to our fundamental science. How it should have been done is another question.

- So you do not support the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the form in which it was carried out?

Most of us scientists state that over these four years the degradation of Russian fundamental science has continued, and even accelerated. Degradation is a nasty word, but it is a fact. And if this were not so, some more or less serious results would be visible. There is a very simple, everyday indicator of success. If there is success, then a lot of people come running and say: “I came up with this! It's me! Look how well it turned out!” We were given shock therapy in 2013, but no one took responsibility for it after a full four years. Because failure. When there is failure, everyone is unhappy with each other. The Presidential Administration is dissatisfied with the RAS, the RAS is dissatisfied with FANO, FANO is dissatisfied with the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Education and Science nods at someone else.

Have you recently visited the RAS building? Come in and take a look. It's empty there. And there should be smoke like a rocker!

- It seems counterproductive to endlessly look for someone to blame.

That's it! And I have this fear: in the conditions of such obvious failure in the state of science, there are people who will continue to largely blame the Academy of Sciences. Look what happened: last December they adopted a new strategy for the country’s scientific and technological development. Why didn't anyone remember the previous strategy? After all, in 2006, a strategy for scientific and innovative development of the country was adopted. Great strategy, by the way. In 2006, it was planned that by 2015 there would be a sharp increase in funding for science. Then, let's say, it was at the level of 1.2 percent of GDP. And by 2015 it was supposed to become 2.5% of GDP, that is, at the level of countries with advanced science. Science was supposed to become the main productive force of the innovative economy; it was a real strategic guideline and goal. By 2015, 60 to 70% of the money that goes to science should have come from industry, from the innovation sector. This did not happen. Instead of 2.5%, we now have the same figure somewhere at the level of 1.2%. By 2015, 15% of our exports were supposed to be innovative. What do you and I have? Maybe we have now adopted a new strategy and will move forward? Or maybe in a year we’ll forget about her too. Without analyzing why the previous one did not work, where and what went wrong there, one can (and the easiest thing is) say that the scientists themselves, and above all the Russian Academy of Sciences, are to blame for everything.

- What then should the RAS do now?

I think that no one knows exactly what is the right thing to do now to advance the sciences. But until we have a consensus, nothing will definitely work out. It is necessary for people to agree on a common understanding of what science is now in the country, what we have come to. And agree on a path out of this situation. I think that there is such a trajectory, but following it will be very difficult.

- How are things going inside the Academy now?

We still have not moved away from shock therapy (reforms of 2013 - approx. "Attic"). In the sense that we often take proposals from outside, including quite sensible ones, with hostility. And it happens that sometimes we don’t even notice the hand of cooperation extended to us. There is such a thing. I feel this resentment from shock therapy in myself. The offense, first of all, comes from the disrespectful attitude towards the entire academic community, which was clearly expressed. And this greatly interferes with our work, including organizing the work of the Academy of Sciences in the existing legal framework. And there is a lot to do with it. Have you recently visited the building of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences? It's quiet there now. And once there was a “smoke rocker” and there should be. Until this happens, nothing will happen. We can say that the Russian Academy of Sciences stopped dividing money and everything became quiet. This is partly true, but not only. It is necessary that a large team of people appear in the leadership of the Academy of Sciences, for whom the Academy of Sciences should be their main and daily work. The Academy of Sciences has many scientific councils, but very few of them are active. And these are the main cells in which ideas should be discussed, new directions should be formulated, on the basis of which proposals for the country’s scientific and technological policy are then formulated. Boards should not work once a year when they look at results, but regularly. Finally, all ordinary members of the academy must accept that the academy is not only a society of those elected on merit, but also work for which the state regularly pays us stipends.

- What do you personally hope to do at the RAS if elected?

I will briefly list several points, for each of which a draft program is being prepared. The first point is to achieve consensus between the academy and the authorities regarding an understanding of the reasons for the current state of domestic science, ways to overcome the crisis and the role of the academy and fundamental science in this. There is a strategy adopted in December, and it must be implemented, but the role of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the strategy is not very visible. The second is the Academy of Sciences receiving real tools for the formation and implementation of state scientific and technological policy. I am not calling for the immediate return of institutions to the control of the academy, but I am sincerely confident that science should be managed by scientists, and the current “rule of two keys” in the relationship between the Russian Academy of Sciences and FANO is not a tool for development, but rather a tool for protection from each other. Third - activation current work Academy, including the positions listed above. So that there would be “smoke”, so that people would go to the academy, so that there would be a headquarters there. Fourth, the academy must take responsibility for the initiation and promotion of large scientific projects, which in the post Soviet time We have catastrophically few. Fifth - the balance of fundamental and applied research and the role of the academy in maintaining it. The sixth is the role of the academy in ensuring the security of the country. In Soviet times, it was fundamentally important, and it needs to be revived while there is still personnel and intellectual resources for this. Seventh, it is necessary to change the tactics adopted since the 2000s of positioning the Russian Academy of Sciences in society as a besieged fortress. There have always been and are opponents. The Academy must turn to face society and actively build clear relationships with it. Do not respond, often sluggishly, to blows and attacks, but conduct your own policy in this information field. Promote science and our achievements, be open to the media, communicate with schoolchildren and parents.

And finally, in my opinion, the biggest losses we suffered during the post-Soviet era were not that the industry collapsed or that hundreds of billions floated away somewhere the wrong way. I think the biggest loss for us is that the intellectual level in the country has sharply dropped. I have an idea of ​​the total intelligence of the nation. He squeezed hard! It happened by various reasons: the “brains” left, excellent engineers and scientists left for “shuttles”, schools and universities began to prepare children poorly and, in general, intelligence depreciated and ceased to be socially significant. Simply put, being smart is no longer so important, and this transformation of the demand for intelligence is already leading to catastrophic consequences before our eyes. And until we embark on a trajectory so that this abstract “total intelligence of a nation” begins to grow, we will remain an appendage of powerful science-oriented countries. I think, perhaps these are too pompous words, that the Academy of Sciences should become a very important ideological, key structure in the country, which should be responsible for raising the total intelligence of the nation. This is, by and large, a strategic task or mission. We must strive for this with all our might.

• Faculty of Radiophysics, UNN [d] ( )

Alexander Mikhailovich Sergeev(born August 2, Buturlino, Gorky region) - Russian physicist, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (since 2016). Director since 2015. Professor at Nizhny Novgorod State University.

Member of the editorial board of the journal Radiophysics.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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  In 1977 he graduated from the radiophysics department of Gorky University.

  A. M. Sergeev represents Russia in the International Committee on Ultra-Powerful Lasers ICUIL, being the deputy chairman of this organization. He is a member of the IUPAP Commission on Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics.

  For many years, A. M. Sergeev has been a member of the program organizing committees of major international scientific conferences on optics, laser physics and biophotonics, such as ICONO, Photonics West, Topical Problems of Biophotonics, etc.

  Scientific achievements

  A. M. Sergeev is one of the leading experts in Russia in the field of laser physics, femtosecond optics, plasma physics and biophotonics.

  In the 1990s, he organized work at the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences to create femtosecond laser sources. Under his leadership, a complex of such sources was created, including a laser based on parametric light amplification with a peak radiation power of hundreds of terawatts, which was a world record for such systems at the time of its creation. The complex also includes a titanium-sapphire laser with a peak power of about a terawatt, as well as fiber-optic femtosecond lasers with extremely short pulse duration.

  A. M. Sergeev developed new method descriptions of the operation of femtosecond lasers based on the theory of dissipative optical solitons. On its basis, new laser lasing regimes were predicted, which were later realized experimentally.

  A. M. Sergeev is actively developing theoretical models of the processes of highly nonlinear interaction of radiation from such ultra-powerful short-pulse sources with matter. He studied new nonlinear wave effects in such processes, in particular the effect of self-channeling of radiation based on ionization nonlinearity, as well as a strong adiabatic increase in the carrier frequency and radiation harmonic frequencies. A. M. Sergeev developed the concept of generating coherent attosecond pulses during the ionization of atoms by femtosecond pulses. Under his leadership, a number of works were carried out on the theoretical study of the processes of laser acceleration of ions and generation x-ray radiation based on petawatt peak power laser systems.

  In the 2010s, A. M. Sergeev proposed a project to create in Russia the world’s most powerful XCELS laser, which would be capable of generating pulses with a peak power of hundreds of petawatts. This project was included by the Government of the Russian Federation among 6 megascience class projects for implementation in 2010-2020.

  In addition to sources of powerful laser radiation, A. M. Sergeev also led the joint work of a team of physicists and doctors aimed at creating and using instruments for optical tomography of biological tissues. These works included such areas as optical coherence tomography, optical diffusion tomography, diffusion fluorescence tomography, and ultramicroscopy. It was shown that the imaging methods developed during these studies make it possible to diagnose oncological diseases.

  A. M. Sergeev initiated the participation of Russian scientists in a number of major international scientific programs, including the observatory for detecting gravitational waves LIGO, in the project of a prototype reactor for laser thermonuclear fusion HiPER, in the pan-European project to create ultra-powerful laser sources and study matter in extreme states ELI (

  At which presidential candidates presented their election programs. After the candidates spoke, members of the RAS discussed the nominated candidates. Academician Sergeev received the greatest support. They called for him to vote ex-president RAS Vladimir Fortov, academicians Valery Rubakov and Yuri Solomonov.

  Gennady Krasnikov was supported by Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov. Academician Eric Galimov spoke for Robert Nigmatulin. Evgeniy Kablov, among others, was supported by academician Alexey Kontorovich, and Vladislav Panchenko was supported by academician Rem Petrov.

  Before the start of the election week and during the first day of the general meeting, many members of the Russian Academy of Sciences expressed fears that the elections could be disrupted due to the fact that a quorum was not reached. However, by the evening of September 25, the acting RAS President Valery Kozlov said that the turnout would be high.

  Evgeny Kablov, CEO All-Russian Research Institute of Aviation Materials (VIAM), Gennady Krasnikov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of PJSC Mikron, Robert Nigmatulin, Scientific Director of the Institute of Oceanology named after P.P. Shirshova, Vladislav Panchenko, scientific director of the Institute of Laser and information technologies RAS, Alexander Sergeev, Director of the Federal Research Center Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The former head of the RAS was academician Vladimir Fortov.

  Biography of the elected President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeev

  
  TASS DOSSIER. On September 26, 2017, at the general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN), physicist and director of the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 62-year-old Alexander Sergeev, was elected president of the academy. He will take office after approval by the President of Russia. Alexander Sergeev will become the 22nd president of the Academy of Sciences in its entire history, the 10th elected and the third in modern history(since 1991).

  Alexander Mikhailovich Sergeev was born on August 2, 1955 in the village of Buturlino, Gorky Region (now an urban village, Nizhny Novgorod Region).

  In 1977 he graduated from the radiophysics department of Gorky State University. N.I. Lobachevsky (now - National Research Nizhny Novgorod State University them. N.I. Lobachevsky, Nizhny Novgorod State University) with a degree in radiophysics.

  In 1982, at the Institute of Applied Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences), he defended his thesis for a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences on the topic “Self-action and transformation of intense electromagnetic waves in magnetically active plasma.” In 2000, there was a thesis for Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (topic: “Nonlinear wave processes in the generation of ultrashort optical pulses and the interaction of strong optical fields with matter”). In 2003, he was elected a corresponding member, and in 2016, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Member of the Division of Physical Sciences (physics and astronomy) of the Academy of Sciences, member of the RAS Council on Space.

  After graduating from the university, he was accepted as a research intern at the Institute of Applied Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Gorky, now Nizhny Novgorod). Then he worked as a junior (1979-1985), senior (1985-1991) researcher, head of a laboratory (1991-1994), and head of a department (1994-2001). From 2001 to 2015, he served as Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and in 2001-2012 he also headed a department of the institute.

  From 2015 to present V. - Director of the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. At the same time, he is the head of the department of ultrafast processes and the head of the sector for modeling ultrafast optical processes of the Department of Nonlinear Dynamics and Optics of the Institute of Applied Physics. Part-time professor at the Department of General Physics, Faculty of Radiophysics, UNN.

  He leads a group of Russian scientists in the LIGO gravitational wave detection project in the USA. In 2016, project participants were awarded the prestigious Gruber Prize in Cosmology, as well as the Fundamental Physics Prize (established by Russian businessman Yuri Milner).

  Member of the Scientific Coordination Council Federal agency scientific organizations and the Council of the Russian Foundation basic research. Member of the editorial board of the journals "Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk" and "Izvestiya VUZov - Radiophysics".

  In July 2017, he was registered as a candidate for the post of President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was nominated by the Bureau of the Division of Physical Sciences, the Bureau of the Division of Energy, Mechanical Engineering, Mechanics and Control Processes, the Bureau of the Division of Biological Sciences, the Presidium of the Ural Branch, as well as 240 members of the RAS, according to the official website of the academy. On August 31, his candidacy was approved by the Russian government.

  Alexander Sergeev is a scientist in the field of laser physics, femtosecond optics (optics of ultrashort laser pulses), theory of nonlinear wave phenomena, plasma physics and biophotonics (studies the interaction of light with biological tissue). Under his leadership, the most powerful petawatt (10 to the fifteenth power of a watt, or a billion megawatt) laser complex in Russia was created at the Institute of Applied Physics RAS, and new methods of using femtosecond radiation for processing materials and medicine were developed.

  Author and co-author of more than 350 scientific papers. Among them are “Towards an analytical theory of laser illuminators” (1980), “From femtosecond to attosecond pulses” (1999), “Terawatt femtosecond titanium-sapphire laser complex” (2001), “100-terawatt femtosecond laser based on parametric amplification” ( 2005), “Horizons of petawatt laser complexes” (2011), “Raman laser with a picosecond pulse duration, operating in an eye-safe range” (2016), etc.

  Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology (1999), Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology (2012). Awarded the Order of Honor (2006).

  Married, has two children. Wife, Marina Dmitrievna Chernobrovtseva, - Researcher IAP RAS. Daughter Ekaterina is a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, senior researcher at the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Son Mikhail - employee

  On September 26, 2017, during the second round, the president was determined Russian Academy Sci. He became the director of the Federal Research Center “Institute of Applied Physics RAS” Alexander Sergeev. He received 1045 votes with the required 746 (50% + 1 vote).

  The number of votes Sergeev collected is even more than 2/3 of the votes required for election, from which, in the summer, amendments to the law on the Russian Academy of Sciences passed to a “simple majority.” It was believed that after the March 2017 elections were disrupted and all three candidates withdrew, no one would be able to achieve the required two-thirds. Ballot for voting during the second round, September 26, 2017. Photo from Facebook At 6 p.m., the Chairman of the Counting Commission, Academician Yuri Balega, announced that the elections had taken place. In total there are 2305 people in the RAS. In the second round, 1489 ballots were issued, 1485 were found in the ballot boxes, i.e. someone took 4 ballots as a souvenir. Alexander Sergeev received 1045 (70.2%) votes, and his opponent, academician Robert Nigmatulin, received 412 (27.7%) votes.

  The hall burst into applause. But even before the official announcement of the results, information about Sergeev’s victory reached members of the RAS and journalists, Sergeev began to be photographed and congratulated, and Robert Nigmatulin approached Alexander Mikhailovich and shook his hand as the winner.

  Let us recall that, held on the morning of September 26, A. M. Sergeev received 681 (42.7%) votes, and R. I. Nigmatulin - 276 (17.3%) votes. Thus, during the second round, 364 votes were added in favor of Sergeev, and 136 in favor of Nigmatulin. 1,596 people took part in the first round, 1,489 in the second round (107 less), so there was no significant outflow of votes.

  In May 2013, when the Academy of Sciences still existed as a separate organization (without the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences), Vladimir Fortov received 766 votes with the required 658 (1,314 people voted). He had two rivals: academician Zhores Alferov received the support of 345 members of the RAS, and academician Alexander Nekipelov - 143.
  Alexander Sergeev and Valery Kozlov at the OS RAS, September 26, 2017 After the announcement of the official election results, Academician Sergeev spoke to the members General meeting RAS. Here is a transcript of his speech:

  Dear colleagues, today is a very important day for our Academy, since we elected our president in a completely democratic way. I think this is very important, firstly, because recently we have received serious criticism that the elections for the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences were not held democratically enough. I must say that in the last six months after the failed elections, the leadership of the Russian Academy of Sciences behaved very correctly and presented constructive ideas to the country's leadership regarding the election procedure. And it is very good that, in accordance with these proposals, elections to the Russian Academy of Sciences took place.

  The second thing I want to say (and I say this completely honestly): during this election campaign, our government behaved completely democratically. There was no pressure from above or from the side, and there were constructive meetings discussing constructive plans. I believe that both the Academy of Sciences and the authorities behaved very constructively is the key to the consensus that I spoke about in my pre-election speech.

  The next point is why this is important for the Academy of Sciences: for the first time, the president of the RAS was elected by three academies, which now work together, and the result that was obtained suggests that the elected president had the support of all three academies. It is very important. (Stormy applause.) And I promise you to be your president for all branches of the Russian Academy of Sciences. (Stormy applause.)

  I want to especially thank my colleagues: Vladimir Evgenievich Fortov for the fact that during these four years he courageously fought to preserve the Academy of Sciences. And I consider it my duty to continue this line so that the Academy of Sciences continues to work in accordance with democratic principles. (Stormy applause.)

  I want to thank Valery Vasilyevich Kozlov for the fact that in the past period he wisely and calmly steered the ship of the Academy and was thus able to build a dialogue with the authorities, and we really came to a consensus. (Stormy applause. V.V. Kozlov stood up and thanked the audience for their support.)

  I want to thank my rivals, outstanding scientists - Evgeniy Nikolaevich Kablov, and Gennady Yakovlevich Krasnikov, and Robert Iskanderovich Nigmatulin, and Vladislav Yakovlevich Panchenko - for the fact that we generally worked together during this election campaign. Thank you. Each of us was worthy of becoming president, but the Academy of Sciences voted this way. (Stormy applause.)

  Finally, I want to thank those who supported me in this election. And I really want to thank those departments that chose me. First of all, my home Department of Physical Sciences. In addition, the Department of Biological Sciences, the Department of Energy[, Mechanical Engineering, Mechanics and Control Processes] and the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. I would also like to thank the members of the Academy (there were 240 of them) who cast their individual votes for me.

  Thank you very much - and for your work!

  After this, acting President of the RAS Valery Kozlov announced that on Wednesday, September 27, meetings of the RAS Branches will be held, and at 12 o’clock on September 28, the General Meeting will continue its work. It will be necessary to elect the Presidium of the RAS, vice-presidents of the RAS, the chief scientific secretary of the Presidium of the RAS and academic secretaries of RAS departments.

  At the mini-banquet held after the General Meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Valery Kozlov, Deputy. Minister of Education and Science Grigory Trubnikov, Alexander Sergeev and their colleagues. Academician Trubnikov noted that on this day “the Academy of Sciences voted for Science.” He praised all five candidates who ran in the elections, but said that as a physicist he was glad that the physicist won. In turn, Academician Sergeev recalled April 2017, when Academician Litvak approached him with a proposal to become a candidate for President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and he immediately agreed, as he felt responsible for the Academy of Sciences. He did not immediately inform his wife about his decision, and she even asked him: “Why do you need this?” (A. M. Sergeev has two children and three grandchildren). The elected president of the Russian Academy of Sciences promised to interact with colleagues of different ages.

  It is reported that today he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.