Alexei Kornyshev

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The University of Tartu has conferred the degree of Honorary Doctor of Science on Professor Alexei Kornyshev for his outstanding achievements in chemical physics, electrochemistry and high-efficiency energy technology, in shaping the new generation of scientists and for his long-standing collaboration with the University of Tartu's scientists. Alexei Kornyshev initiated the first Baltic Electrochemistry Conference and has also actively participated in their organisation later. Kornyshev's meaningful and inspiring lectures have greatly increased the value of these conferences. He has been awarded the Electrochimica Acta Gold Medal by the International Society of Electrochemistry for his significant contributions to electrochemistry, the Geoffrey Barker Medal and Interdisciplinary Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and numerous other awards.

Alexei Kornyshev received his master's degree from Moscow Engineering Physics Institute in theoretical nuclear physics in 1970 and defended his Candidate of Sciences degree in Physical and Mathematical Sciences under the guidance of Prof. R.R. Dogonadze in 1974. He worked as a Research Scientist at the Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow (1973–1991), where he defended his Doctor of Sciences degree in 1986 and became a Leading Scientist. In 1991, he received the Humboldt Research Award in Electrochemistry and Physical Chemistry and spent the next year at the Technical University of Munich as Humboldt Guest Professor. He was then invited to the Research Centre Jülich in Germany to lead a Theory Group in the new Institute for Energy Processing with a focus on the fundamentals of fuel cells. In 1997, he was promoted to the position of the Head of the Division of Theoretical Physical Chemistry. From 2001 to 2003, Kornyshev was a Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. Since 2002, he has been a Professor of Chemical Physics at Imperial College London.

Through the years, Alexei Kornyshev's particular areas of research have been electron and proton transfer reactions and processes, hydration, metal/electrolyte and liquid-liquid interfaces, transport phenomena in solid electrolytes and polymer electrolyte membranes, aggregation and recognition of helical biopolymers and the structure of chiral liquid crystals, the theory of modern fuel cells (PEFC/DMFC, SOFC) and super-capacitors. His current research interests focus on DNA biophysics, optofluidics and nanophotonics, molecular electronics and machines, ionic liquids and their applications, and electrochemical metamaterials. He has authored over 300 original publications and more than 30 review articles in leading journals, filed several patents, published three books, and edited a number of multi-author books and special issues.