Evgeny Pavlovich Velikhov was a physicist and scientific leader in the Russian Federation. His scientific interests included plasma physics, lasers, controlled nuclear fusion, power engineering, and magnetohydrodynamics (high-power pulsed MHD generators). He was the author of over 1500 scientific publications and a number of inventions and discoveries. He held the post of president of the Kurchatov Institute (named after Igor Kurchatov) and first Secretary (head) of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation. He was a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.