Mikhail Valentinovich Kovalchuk (russian: Михаил Валентинович Ковальчук; born September 21, 1946 in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

) is a Russian physicist and official. He is a brother of

Yury Kovalchuk Yury Valentinovich Kovalchuk (russian: Ю́рий Валенти́нович Ковальчу́к; born 25 July 1951) is a Russian billionaire businessman and financier who is "reputed to be Vladimir Putin's personal banker". The Panama Papers l ...

, known as "

Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

's personal banker".

Political activity

Since May 26, 2000 Mikhail Kovalchuk has been a Corresponding Member of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across ...

(RAS) in physics. Since 2001 he has been the Scientific Secretary of the Council for Science and High Technologies attached to the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. Since February 2005 he has been the Director of the

Kurchatov Institute The Kurchatov Institute (russian: Национальный исследовательский центр «Курчатовский Институт», 'National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute) is Russia's leading research and developmen ...

. In June 2007 by a decision of the RAS Presidium Mikhail Kovalchuk was appointed acting vice-president of the Academy for nanotechnology. As the Academy Charter stipulates that only full members are eligible for vice-presidency, Kovalchuk, being a corresponding member, can only be acting vice-president, unless the Charter is modified or he is elected full member. Despite pressure from Vladimir Putin, the RAS rejected Kovalchuk's application for full membership in May 2008. This was seen as the first major blow to Putin's authority since coming to power in 2000 as there was speculation that Putin had wanted Kovalchuk to become President of the RAS.

References

1946 births Living people Scientists from Saint Petersburg Members of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation Russian physicists Russian politicians Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology faculty Full Cavaliers of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" {{Russia-politician-stub