Published on: 2026-08-07
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
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The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, awarded the title of Hero of Labor to the President of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SPbPU, Honorary Doctor of SPbPU, Mikhail Kovalchuk.
Mikhail Kovalchuk heads the Supervisory Board of the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. The outstanding physicist and science organizer makes a significant contribution to the development of our university. The scientist also supports young talents, so in 2024, in honor of the 125th anniversary of the Polytechnic, made a contribution to endowment fund No. 1 “Development of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University” Endowment of SPbPU Foundation.
Mikhail Valentinovich regularly gives lectures to polytechnic students. Each such meeting is an opportunity to hear a unique story about the history of domestic science and new cutting-edge research. Thus, at the end of 2025, Mikhail Kovalchuk spoke in the White Hall before the university’s students and scientists. with the lecture “Nuclear Energy for Space”. The scientist spoke about the beginning of space exploration in the USSR, the orbital spacecraft ‘Buran’, the development of space nuclear energy, priority technological areas, innovative atomic energy technologies, rocket engines, space materials science, and much more.
Mikhail Kovalchuk was awarded the title Hero of Labor “for special merits in the development of domestic science and many years of fruitful work.”
With the awarding of the title Hero of Labor of Russia, the scientist was congratulated by the Governor of Saint Petersburg, Alexander Beglov: You have been awarded the highest degree of distinction by the President of Russia for your special merits in the development of domestic science and many years of fruitful work. Your discoveries in the field of X-ray physics, crystallography, and nanodiagnostics have received wide international recognition. You have become one of the ideologists and organizers of nanotechnology development in the country. The breakthrough achievements of Russia in recent times are largely due to your personal great contribution. You have trained an entire scientific school — scientists who work on fulfilling the task set by the President of Russia to achieve technological leadership for our country.
Mikhail Kovalchuk was born on September 21, 1946, in Leningrad. A graduate of the Faculty of Physics of Leningrad State University in 1970, he holds a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences degree, is a professor, and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is a full cavalier of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” and a laureate of the Government of the Russian Federation Prize in Science and Technology. From 1998 to 2013, he headed the A. V. Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography of the Russian Academy of Sciences. From 2005 to 2015, he was director of the Kurchatov Institute and is now its president.
Mikhail Valentinovich’s research laid the foundation for a fundamentally new method of studying the structure of matter, based on the combination of X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy — the standing X-ray waves method, which has important practical significance for the study of nanosystems. Mikhail Kovalchuk is a leading scientist in the fields of X-ray physics, crystallography, and nanodiagnostics, and one of the ideologists and organizers of nanotechnology development in Russia.
Interdisciplinary research, initiated by the scientist while still at the Institute of Crystallography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has reached a new level with the development of a fundamentally new scientific direction — the convergence of nano-, bio-, info-, cognitive, and socio-humanitarian (NBICS) sciences and technologies. Mikhail Kovalchuk formulated a strategy for the development of this new breakthrough direction in Russia and in 2009 created the Kurchatov NBICS Center, which has no analogues in the world, where under his scientific leadership research is being developed aimed at the convergence of modern technologies with the “structures” of living nature. Alongside this, on his initiative, projects in the fields of nuclear medicine, historical materials science, space nuclear energy, and other priority directions have been developed at the NRC “Kurchatov Institute”.
On the initiative of and with the direct involvement of Mikhail Kovalchuk, a scientific program was established at the Kurchatov Institute, primarily focused on conducting interdisciplinary scientific research on large research complexes (mega installations). The implementation of this program has enabled work to be carried out in virtually all areas of modern science: from energy and elementary particle physics to high-tech medicine, biology, and nature-inspired technologies.
As part of the expansion of powers to consolidate the country’s scientific potential, in the summer of 2026 Mikhail Kovalchuk was also elected president of the Union for the Development of Science Cities of Russia.
Reference
The title of Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation is the highest degree of distinction. It is awarded to citizens for special labor merits before the state and the people, associated with achieving outstanding results in state, scientific, social, economic, and other activities aimed at ensuring the welfare and prosperity of Russia.
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