On February 6, just before the Russian science day, the 26th Demidov award ceremony took place at the residence of the Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region. The Demidov’s winners in 2018 are: Academician Valery Kozlov, Vice-President of the Russian academy of sciences (Moscow), Academician Vladimir Minkin, the Deputy Chairman of the Southern scientific center of the Russian academy of sciences (Rostov-on-Don), Academician Valery Tishkov, Academician-Secretary of the of history and philology division of the Russian academy of sciences.
The Demidov award is one of the Russia’s most prestigious non-governmental scientific prizes. Established in 1832 by Pavel N. Demidov, a representative of the famous family of Ural industrialists and philanthropists, the first president of Russian academy of science of that time Count S. Uvarov announced at the primary Academy award that this is created in support of those who devote themselves to “constant efforts and modest fame of scholarship” . The award became very famous in Russia and is widely recognized abroad.
Among the winners of the Demidov award of the XIX century were such famous persons as the chemist D.I. Mendeleev, the surgeon N. I. Pirogov, the travelers and geographers I.F. Krusenstern and F.P. Wrangell. It is no coincidence that many believe that Alfred Nobel borrowed the idea of awarding a scientific prize from Pavel Demidov. The famous Swedish philanthropist Nobel belonged to a family of inventors and industrialists who had worked in the Russian market for many years, and lived in St. Petersburg just during those years when the Demidov award was presented. Two scientific awards – Nobel and Demidov – have a lot in common: this is the nomination and the decision-making procedure, and the fact that academic scientists have the final word.
In 1992, the award was revived in Yekaterinburg on the initiative of the Academician G.A. Mesyats, the Chairman of the Ural branch of the Russian academy of sciences of those years, and with the support of the Ural authorities, industrialists and entrepreneurs the first award ceremony took place already in 1993. The special value of this prize is that it is awarded by the fellow scientists, the academic community. For the winner of the Demidov award it is always a surprise, as he does not submit any applications, does not present his work anywhere. The decision to award a scientist with this prize is made by the Committee on the prizes of the Demidov scientific foundation on the proposal of the expert commissions consisting of academic scientists.
Among the acknowledged with the renewed Demidov award are the Nobel laureates Zh.I. Alferov and A.M. Prokhorov, outstanding Russian politician Ye.M. Primakov, such famous scientists as B.V. Rauschenbach, A.A. Baev, N.I. Tolstoy, N.P. Laverov, O.G. Gazenko. T.I. Zaslavskaya, Uralians S.V. Vonsovsky, N.N. Krasovsky, N.A. Semikhatov, N.A. Vatolin, B.V. Litvinov, O.N. Chupakhin, V.N. Bolshakov, V.V. Alekseev, S.S. Alekseev, E.N. Avrorin, V.A. Koroteev, B.V. Chesnokov.
In the picture: the Chairman of the Supervisory board of the Demidov scientific foundation, Academician Gennady Mesyats with the Chairman of the Council of young scientists of the IHTE, Ph.D. (Chemistry) Pavel Pershin.
