Nikolay Laverov

Academician Nikolay Laverov is Vicepresident of the Russian Academy of Sciences. From 1972 to 1983, he headed the department of scientific-research institutes in the USSR Ministry of Geology; in 1983- 1987, he was a Pro-Rector of the Academy of National Economy, in 1987-1989, President of the Kirgisian Academy of Sciences. In 1989-1991, Nikolay Laverov was USSR Deputy-Prime Minister and Chairman of the USSR State Committee for Science and Technology. In 1989, Academician Nikolay Laverov was elected as Vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Nikolay Laverov was born on January 12, 1930. He studied at the Moscow Institute for Nonferrous Metals and Gold. Beginning from 1947, he actively participated in field studies as a worker, technician, engineer, and head of research teams and parties.

In his doctoral dissertation, he was the first in the world to establish the environment of uranium ore formation in continental volcanic belts. His theoretical deductions were widely used in practice and resulted in a substantial increase of uranium reserves for the atomic industry in the Soviet Union.

Since the mid-1970s, Nikolay Laverov has been involved in a new line of investigation, the historical metallogeny of uranium. He made an important contribution to the complex investigation of exogenic epigenetic uranium deposits developed by the in-situ leaching.

A new problem of radiogeological studies was pioneered and headed by Nikolay Laverov in 1990. He is deeply involved in international radiogeological programs and he is a head of some relevant projects. Nikolay Laverov is a leader in the scientific research of rehabilitation of contaminated sites at the PA Mayak and decommissioning and utilization of nuclear submarines.

Problems of radiogeology and radiogeoecology do not restrict a wide range of scientific interests of Nikolay Laverov. His works on the economics of mineral resources, their present state and future demands on the nontraditional mineral resources, and planning and organization of scientific-technical progress are widely known.

Nikolay Laverov's exceptional capacity to work and his responsible attitude to any duty may be illustrated by a short list of multidisciplinary and state scientific-technical programs he has contributed to. This list includes superdeep continental drilling, development of research institutions of the country, investigations of global changes of environment and climate, and studies of Arctics, Antartics, and World ocean. As the Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nikolay Laverov is a Chairman of the Commission for Ecology, Security Council of the Russian Federation, and a co-chairman of the US-Russia joint working group on Earth sciences.

Nikolay Laverov is the author and coauthor about 600 publications. Some of his articles and books were translated in different languages. From 1972 to 1983, he was the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Soviet Geology. In 1989, he was appointed the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Geology of Ore Deposits.

In this capacity, Nikolay Laverov stimulated new trends in the journal's activities. Some papers were focused on the prehistory and duration of ore formation, relations between the deep structure of the Earth and endogenous ore mineralization. A new topic was opened by papers on immobilization and disposal of radioactive wastes. This papers are based on studies of both natural and technogenous processes of migration and the accumulation of radioactive elements. They correspond to the most urgent ecological problem of the present time.

He is a member of the Supervisory Council of the Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe.