HSE MIEM Professor Lev Shchur Receives Prestigious International Award
Professor Lev Shchur has received the Henri Abraham Award 2022 for his services in organising science, including conducting international conferences and supporting early-career scientists. The award was established by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) in 2020, and has since been given to six researchers from various countries.
Lev Shchur is known for his studies in the fields of computational physics, statistical mechanics, hydrodynamics, non-linear systems, and the development of supercomputer algorithms. He is the Head of the Joint Department with RAS Dorodnicyn Computing Centre at HSE MIEM.
Prof. Shchur has worked with the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics since the 1990s. The organisation was established in Brussels in 1922, and today unites research physicists from 60 countries. Lev Shchur served on the IUPAP’s Commission on Computational Physics from 1999 to 2004 and again from 2011 to 2016, and also served as secretary in 2013–2016.
Lev Shchur received the Henri Abraham Award for his years-long productive work with the IUPAP, which includes organising international conferences and supporting early-career researchers. One such conference was the XXV IUPAP International Conference on Computational Physics, which saw world-renowned research physicists come to the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow in 2013. Several more conferences were held at HSE University in subsequent years. Early-career researchers could win trips to such conferences to present their papers, while researchers and lecturers at HSE University could learn about the latest scientific achievements from the authors themselves.
This year’s conference, which was planned to take place at HSE University, did not go ahead after the American Physical Society (which plays a key role in the IUPAP’s work) advised its members to refrain from interacting with any Russian organisations. However, there were no such restrictions on interactions with individuals. At its anniversary meeting (the organisation turned 100 this year), the IUPAP’s General Assembly decided to award the Henri Abraham Award to Lev Shchur (Russia) and Judy Franz (United States).
Lev Shchur
‘During all my years working at the IUPAP, I enhanced the prestige of Russian science (including computational physics) and actively worked with the international scientific community. I developed a certain reputation within this community, and everyone knows that I do not permit them to minimise Russia’s role or make unfounded criticisms of the country. My American friends also congratulated me on receiving this award. It is a pity that there is no international conference this year, but I would not even consider hosting it not under the Russian flag, without the participation of HSE University and the Russian Academy of Sciences.’