Roald Sagdeev

Roald Sagdeev is a Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland and Director of SilkSat, a telecommunications project utilizing small satellites. He is also Director Emeritus of the Space Research Institute, the Moscow-based center of the Russian space exploration program.

Sagdeev, one of the youngest scientists ever elected a full academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, served as Director of the Space Research Institute for fifteen years. Under his direction, many important projects were realized, including the joint US-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz, the Venera series to Venus, as well as the international missions to Halley's Comet and later to Phobos, a moon of Mars. These last two projects were devised and implemented by Academician Sagdeev, in cooperation with more than twelve countries.

Before his appointment to the Space Research Institute in 1973, Sagdeev had a distinguished career in nuclear science as a plasma physicist. His work on the behavior of hot plasma and controlled thermo-nuclear fusion at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, and later at the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Siberia, received many prizes and is recognized internationally.

Sagdeev has been elected a member of many scientific academies and societies around the world, including the National Academy of Sciences (USA), The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (USA), the Royal Swedish Academy, the Royal Astronomical Society (UK), The Max Plank Society (Germany), The International Academy of Astronomics, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Czech Academy of Sciences, and the Third World Academy. He was the first Soviet scientist ever elected to the Vatican Academy of Sciences.

In addition to his scientific career and his work to promote international cooperation in science, Sagdeev also played an outspoken political role during the first five years of perestroika. Elected to the Supreme Soviet in 1987, he served as a summit advisor to Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Eduard Shevardnadze at three summits: Geneva (1985), Washington (1987) and Moscow (1988). He also served as an advisor to Gorbachev on issues related to civilian space and space-based weapons systems. From 1987-1991, he served as a deputy in the USSR's Congress of People's Deputies, pushing a radical reform agenda.

Prizes and Awards:
Highest Soviet awards, including the Lenin Prize (1984) for his work in plasma physics and "Hero of Socialist Labor" for his leadership of the International Mission to Halley's Comet (1986)
"Personality of the Year" (France) in 1988
Tate Medal (American Institute of Physics) in 1992
Italian prize "Science for Peace" in 1994
Leo Scillard Award (American Physical Society) in 1994
"Distinguished Career in Physics"(Washington Academy of Sciences) in 1996
"Distinguished International Professor" (University of Maryland) in 1999
Von Karman Lectureship Award (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) in 2001
Hannes Alufen Memorial Lectureship (Sweden) in 2001
Maxwell Prize (American Physical Society) in 2001

Sagdeev has also received honorary degrees from many universities, including UCLA, New York University, the University of Michigan, Toulouse University (France), and The Technical University of Graz (Austria).