Ilya G. Usoskin is a Finnish astrophysicist who is a professor at

University of Oulu The University of Oulu () is one of the largest universities in Finland, located in the city of Oulu. It was founded on July 8, 1958. The university has around 14,200 students and 3,800 staff. 21 International Master's Programmes are offer ...

and head of Cosmic Ray Station at

Sodankylä Sodankylä (; ; ; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the region of Lapland, and lies at the northern end of Highway 5 ( E63) and along Highway 4 ( E75). The Kitinen River flows near the center of Sodankylä. Its neighbouring mun ...

Geophysical Observatory. He is a Vice President of the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

since 2021.

Education

In 1982, Ilya Usoskin graduated from the

Saint Petersburg Lyceum 239 Presidential Physics and Mathematics Lyceum No. 239 (), is a public high school in Saint Petersburg, Russia that specializes in mathematics and physics. The school opened in 1918 and it became a specialized city school in 1961. The school is not ...

with intensified study of physics and mathematics, in parallel with Grigory Perelman. Then he became a student at the

Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, abbreviated as SPbPU, is a public technical university located in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Over the decades, it established itself as a cornerstone of technical education and research, ulti ...

and finished it as an MSc in physics (Space Physics) in 1988.

Career

Since 1988, he worked as a junior researcher in the field of Astrophysics at the

Ioffe Institute The Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (for short, Ioffe Institute, ) is one of Russia's largest research centers specialized in physics and technology. The institute was established in 1918 in Petrograd (now St. ...

, where he obtained the

Candidate of Sciences A Candidate of Sciences is a Doctor of Philosophy, PhD-equivalent academic research degree in all the post-Soviet countries with the exception of Ukraine, and until the 1990s it was also awarded in Central and Eastern European countries. It is ...

degree in astrophysics in 1995. During 1997–1999, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the

INFN The Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN; "National Institute for Nuclear Physics") is the coordinating institution for nuclear, particle, theoretical and astroparticle physics in Italy. History INFN was founded on the 8th of August 1951 ...

Milano working on the

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a particle physics experiment module that is mounted on the International Space Station (ISS).Kristine Rainey (April 2, 2013)Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS): How It Works NASA. Retrieved June 2, 20 ...

experiment. Since 2000, he has been a staff of the

—head of the Oulu Cosmic Ray station. In 2000, he got

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Space Physics, in 2002, he became a

Docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

, and a full

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 2012.

Recognition and honors

* 2013: Knight's Cross, First Class, of the

Order of the Lion of Finland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

for the promotion of national science. * 2015-2024: member of C4 (Astroparticle Physics) of

IUPAP The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP; ) is an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to assist in the worldwide development of physics, to foster international cooperation in physics, and to help in the ...

. * 2018: Julius Bartels medal of the

European Geosciences Union The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet". The organisation has headq ...

for the foundation of the

Space Climate Space climate is the long-term variation in Solar phenomena, solar activity within the heliosphere, including the solar wind, the Interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), and their effects in the near-Earth environment, including the magnetosphere of ...

discipline. * 2019: elected member of the

Finnish Academy of Science and Letters The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (; ) is a Finnish learned society. It was founded in 1908 and is thus the second oldest academy in Finland. The oldest is the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, which was founded in 1838. Member ...

. * 2020: Annual Award of the ISEE of

Nagoya University , abbreviated to or NU, is a Japanese national research university located in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya. It was established in 1939 as the last of the nine Imperial Universities in the then Empire of Japan, and is now a Designated National Universit ...

for research of extreme solar events. * 2021-2027: Vice President of the

Major research grants

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

Synergy Grant ''GERACLE'' (2025–2031) * Centre of Excellence of the

Academy of Finland The Research Council of Finland (, ) is a governmental funding body for scientific research in Finland. Until August 2023, its official English-language name was Academy of Finland. It is based in Helsinki. Yearly, the council administers over ...

''ReSoLVE'' (2014–2019)

Research

Usoskin works in the fields of

Solar Physics Solar physics is the branch of astrophysics that specializes in the study of the Sun. It intersects with many disciplines of pure physics and astrophysics. Because the Sun is uniquely situated for close-range observing (other stars cannot be re ...

Cosmic Rays Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar ...

Heliosphere The heliosphere is the magnetosphere, astrosphere, and outermost atmospheric layer of the Sun. It takes the shape of a vast, tailed bubble-like region of space. In plasma physics terms, it is the cavity formed by the Sun in the surrounding ...

and

. He has co-authored more than 400 research publications with tens of thousands of citations. His main research achievements include: * Foundation of a new research discipline

, focused on long-term global changes in the terrestrial and near-Earth environment; * Invention of a novel method to model atmospheric effects of cosmic rays; * Invention of a novel method of past solar activity reconstructions using

cosmogenic isotopes Cosmogenic nuclides (or cosmogenic isotopes) are rare nuclides (isotopes) created when a high-energy cosmic ray interacts with the nucleus of an ''in situ'' Solar System atom, causing nucleons (protons and neutrons) to be expelled from the atom (s ...

; * Foundation of a new paradigm of extreme solar events known also as

Miyake event A Miyake event is an observed sharp enhancement of the production of Cosmogenic nuclide, cosmogenic isotopes by cosmic rays. It can be marked by a spike in the concentration of radioactive carbon isotope Carbon-14, in tree rings, as well as Beryl ...

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * *

References

Finnish scientists Space scientists Knights First Class of the Order of the Lion of Finland Members of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters Academic staff of the University of Oulu Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University alumni 21st-century Finnish physicists 1965 births Living people People associated with IUPAP {{Improve categories, date=June 2024