Ivan Oleksandrovych Vakarchuk ( uk, Іван Олександрович Вакарчук; 6 March 1947 – 4 April 2020) was a Soviet-Ukrainian physicist, politician and social activist. From 1990 to 2007 and again between 2010 and 2013 he was rector of the

Lviv University The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

. In 2007–2010 he was Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Hero of Ukraine Hero of Ukraine (HOU; uk, Герой України, ''Heroi Ukrainy'') is the highest national title that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the President of Ukraine. The title was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma and as ...

(awarded on 5 March 2007), he was father of the leader of the rock band

Okean Elzy Okean Elzy ( uk, Океан Ельзи, translation: ''Elza's Ocean'') is a Ukrainian rock band. It was formed in 1994 in Lviv, Ukraine. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. In April 2007 Okean Elzy received ''FUZZ Magazine'' ...

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk Sviatoslav "Slava" Vakarchuk ( uk, Святослав Іванович Вакарчук; born May 14, 1975) is a Ukrainian musician, politician and public activist. He is the lead vocalist of Okean Elzy, a rock band in Ukraine. Vakarchuk is a form ...

.Former Rector of Lviv University Ivan Vakarchuk died

UNIAN The UNIAN or Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News ( uk, Українське Незалежне Інформаційне Агентство Новин, УНІАН, translit=Ukrayins'ke Nezalezhne Informatsiyne Ahentstvo Novyn) is a ...

(4 March 2020)

Early life

Ivan Vakarchuk was born on 6 March 1947 in the village of

Brătușeni Brătușeni is a commune in Edineț District, Moldova. It is composed of two villages, Brătușeni and Brătușenii Noi.Edineț District Edineț () is a district () in the north-west of Moldova, with the administrative center at Edineț. The other major city is Cupcini. As of 1 January 2011, its population was 82,900. Geography The district is bordered by Briceni District to th ...

Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...

Education

In 1965 Vakarchuk received his secondary education by finishing with honours a local middle school in Brătușeni. In 1965–1970 he studied at the Faculty of Physics at the

University of Lviv The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

. From 1970 to 1973 he continued his studies at

postgraduate research Postgraduate research represents a formal area of study that is recognized by a university or institute of higher learning. By definition, the notion of “postgraduate” (United States) carries the implication that the candidate undertaking such ...

(aspirantura) of the Lviv section of condensed state statistical theory of the Institute of Theoretical Physics, affiliated with the

Ukrainian Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; uk, Національна академія наук України, ''Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny'', abbr: NAN Ukraine) is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine th ...

.Основні дати життя і діяльності Івана Вакарчука
Иван Вакарчук (Ivan Vakarchuk) - все о знаменитости
/ref>
In 1974 he defended his candidature thesis "Application of the method of displacements and collective variables in the study of interacting Bose particles near absolute zero", and in 1980 his doctoral thesis "Microscopic theory of Bose liquid".
/ref> Ivan Vakarchuk represented the Lviv school of statistical physics founded by academician of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Ihor Yukhnovskyi Ihor Yukhnovskyi ( uk, Iгор Рафаïлович Юхновський; also Yukhnovsky; born 1 September 1925) is a Ukrainian physicist and politician, and a member of the Presidium of Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine. Life befo ...

Career

From 1973 to 1984 Ivan Vakarchuk worked at the Lviv branch of the Institute for Theoretical Physics affiliated with the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (now is the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics of National Academy of Sciences) as junior

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

, senior researcher and head of quantum statistics department.
After 1984, Vakarchuk began performing the duties of Professor, head of department of

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

at the University of Lviv.Вакарчук Иван. ДОСЬЕ :: Персональный сайт Сергея Руденко
/ref>
On 13 November 1990 Ivan Vakarchuk was elected the rector of

and worked until November 2007.
Later he held this office again between 2010 and 2013. During the 2004' presidential elections, Vakarchuk openly called students to vote for

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. As an informal leader of th ...

. In 2008 he took the 50th place in the Top 100 of the most influential Ukrainians, according to Reporter magazine. On December 18, 2007 Vakarchuk was appointed the Minister of education and science of Ukraine.

Scientific achievements

Ivan Vakarchuk has the rank of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, PhD with the thesis: "Application of the method of displacements and collective variables in the study of interacting Bose particles near absolute zero" (Institute for Theoretical Physics, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 1974) doctoral thesis on "Microscopic theory of Bose liquid" (Institute for Theoretical Physics,

Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

, 1980). A distinctive feature of professor Ivan Vakarchuk was the amplitude of his scientific interests: physics of quantum liquids, theory of phase transitions and critical phenomena, physics of disordered systems, magnetic systems, physics, mathematical methods in theoretical physics, fundamental problems of quantum mechanics and quantum computer sciences, geophysics, general relativity theory, cosmology, philosophy of science. In each of these fields he proposed new original approaches to the study of various physical phenomena and processes. The amplitude of his scientific interests allowed him to apply methods, which he invented to study different phenomena. Ivan Vakarchuk paid particular attention to the latest achievements in science and philosophy of science issues, including the relationship between research methods of natural sciences and humanities, identifying common math mechanisms that "manage" the processes occurring in the humanitarian and social spheres.
He is the author of over 240 scientific papers, and author of the books "Lectures on General Relativity" (1991), "Quantum Mechanics" (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012) "Introduction to the many-body problem" (1999) and "The Theory of Stellar Spectra" (2003).

Titles and awards

Activism

* Founder and Editor-in-chief of the "Journal of Physics Research" and the popular science magazine "World of Physics" * Member of the Commission of state awards and

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...

* Member of the Committee on State Prizes of Ukraine in science and technology * Vice-President of the Union of rectors of higher educational establishments of Ukraine * Member of the editorial board of the journal "Higher Education in Ukraine" * Chairman of the board of the Lviv Regional Peace Council * President of the Ukrainian Physical Society * Member of the Council on Science and Science and Technology Policy under the President of Ukraine * Member of the organizing committee for the preparation and celebration of the 1020th anniversary of Baptism of Kyivan Rus

Awards and titles

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

, 3rd class (February 2005) *

(Order of State, 2007) * Honour Badge of the President of Ukraine (1996) * Merited Functionary of Science and Technology of Ukraine (2006) * State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology (2000) * Honorary Doctor of the Cracow Pedagogical Academy * Honorary Doctor of

University of Wrocław , ''Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau'' (before 1945) , free_label = Specialty programs , free = , colors = Blue , website uni.wroc.pl The University of Wrocław ( pl, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, U ...

* Recipient of the Barabashov Prize of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; uk, Національна академія наук України, ''Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny'', abbr: NAN Ukraine) is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine th ...

* Diploma by the Presidium of the

"Expert of Public Education in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

" (1983) * Diploma of Merit by the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1977, 1981)

Personal life

Family

Ivan Vakarchuk was married, his wife Svetlana (b. 1947) is teacher of physics, assistant professor of Lviv National Academy of veterinary medicine named after S.Gzhitsky.
They had two sons:

(b. 1975), who was a Ukrainian politician, founder of Holos party and frontman of "Okean Elzy", the famous Ukrainian rock band, and Oleg (b. 1980) - a bank employee.

Death

Vakarchuk died on 4 April 2020, at the age of 73 in

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

. The causes of death was not reported.

References

External links

Biography of Professor Ivan Vakarchuk at the official web site of Lviv National University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vakarchuk, Ivan 1947 births 2020 deaths Education and science ministers of Ukraine Chevaliers of the Order of Merit (Ukraine) People from Edineț District Moldovan emigrants to Ukraine 20th-century Ukrainian physicists University of Lviv alumni Recipients of the title of Hero of Ukraine People of the Euromaidan University of Lviv rectors Soviet physicists Laureates of the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology