| 1 | Name: | Dr. Roald Zinnurovich Sagdeev | |
| Institution: | University of Maryland | ||
| Year Elected: | 2008 | ||
| Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 106. Physics | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1932 | ||
Roald Sagdeev is Distinguished University Professor of Physics and the Director of the East West Space Science Center at the University of Maryland. He is known for his pioneering work in nonlinear physics and hot plasmas, particularly collisionless shocks and plasma turbulence, cosmic rays, and planetary science as well as being a leading figure in the Soviet nuclear fusion program. As director of the Soviet Cosmic Research Institute, he led the development of pioneering planetary missions to Mars and Venus and the international missions to Halley's Comet. He served as science advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev and E. Shevardnadze on arms control and space exploration and later was elected to the USSR Supreme Soviet. At the age of 36, he became one of the youngest persons ever to be elected as a full member (academician) of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Sagdeev's honors and awards include the Tate Medal from the American Institute of Physics (1992); the Italian Prize Science for Peace (1994); the American Physical Society's Maxwell Prize (2001); and membership in the National Academy of Sciences (1987), the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1990) and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Roald Sagdeev was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2008. | |||