Lebedev Physical Institute


The Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences , situated in Moscow, is one of the leading Russian research institutes specializing in physics. It is also one of the oldest research institutions in Russia: its history dates back to a collection of physics equipment established by Peter the Great in the Kunstkamera of Saint Petersburg in 1714. The institute was established in its present shape in 1934 by academician Sergey Vavilov. It moved to Moscow and was named after a prominent Russian physicist Pyotr Lebedev the same year. It is also known as P. N. Lebedev Institute of Physics or just Lebedev Institute. In Russian it is often referred to by the acronym FIAN standing for "Physical Institute of the Academy of Sciences".
The wide range of the research activities includes: laser technology, dark matter structure, nanostructures, superconductivity, cosmic rays, and gamma-astronomy. The institute developed a technique of crystallizing cubic zirconia.

Directors of the Institute

  1. Sergey Vavilov
  2. Dmitri Skobeltsyn
  3. Nikolay Basov
  4. Leonid Keldysh
  5. Oleg Krokhin
  6. Gennady Mesyats

  7. Nobel prize">Nobel Prize">Nobel prizes awarded to FIAN scientists

The institute has, among other research facilities, a particle accelerator: 1.2 GeV electron synchrotron called "Pakhra", located in Troitsk near Moscow. However, the institute is not totally focused on accelerator/particle physics, but the scope of the research of the institute contains most of the areas of modern physics.

Publications of the Institute