Kovalchuk recalled Velikhov's contribution to the emergence of the Internet in Russia

Academician Evgeny Velikhov has made a huge contribution to the development of Russia, including he founded the first Internet connection in the Russian Federation. This was stated on December 6 by President of the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" Mikhail Kovalchuk Mikhail Kovalchuk.

We are talking about the first mass computer network in the USSR and the Russian Federation "Realcom", which began operating in 1990 on the basis of the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow.

"The Internet, which we all use, here you are now holding phones in your hands, you must understand, he (Velikhov. - Ed.) conducted then in the 90s, he founded actually the first Internet connection in our country," Kovalchuk said at the briefing.

In addition, he said that largely thanks to Velikhov, the Kurchatov Institute is at the origins of the development of the supercomputer. In addition, Velikhov considered with colleagues the issue of turbulent plasma propagation and its interaction with electromagnetic radiation, for which the academician received the degree of doctor of physical and mathematical sciences at the age of 29.

"This is a boulder man, this is a man who in a sense is a symbol of an epoch. His passing is actually the passing of an era. It is the passing of the era of the Kurchatov Institute and the passing of the era of the country. Such people are born very rarely and leave a huge trace after themselves", - said Kovalchuk.

Labors and days: Academician Evgeny Velikhov passed away

The eminent scientist came to science through books and the example of his father

Velikhov's death became known the night before. The outstanding expert in the field of thermonuclear fusion died at the 90th year of life. Commenting on this, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vice President of SIC "Kurchatov Institute", Academician Vladislav Panchenko noted that Velikhov was a great man who could think broadly and was passionate about his work.

Kovalchuk said on December 6 that the academician's scientific activity had a civilizational scale. Recalling Velikhov's ideas and projects, the president of the Kurchatov Institute pointed to the scientist's ability to "look into the future" and the ability to make "nontrivial moves."

Velikhov was the scientific director of research on controlled thermonuclear fusion in the USSR (since 1973), as well as the initiator (in 1977) and one of the leaders (since 1992) of the international project for the development of thermonuclear energy ITER.

In 1977-1996, Velikhov was vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences, then of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and also initiated the creation of the Department of Informatics and Computer Science, or the Department of Nanotechnology and Information Technology at the moment.

In addition, Velikhov is a participant in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, Hero of Socialist Labor, Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation and the holder of many other state awards.