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The 2012 Russian Federation National Award in Science and Technology is conferred to Anatoly Derevyanko for his outstanding research and publications on the earliest history of humans in Eurasia and the formation of anatomically modern humans

Anatoly Derevyanko, born on April 9, 1943 in the village of Kozmo-Demyanovka in the Tambov county of Amur Region, is a Doctor of Historical Sciences, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His achievements have been recognised through awards granted by Russia, the USSR and foreign nations.

Mr Derevyanko is an outstanding scientist, globally renowned in the field of archaeology and ancient history, and is a leading Stone Age expert. He has played a crucial role in studying the initial colonisation of Eurasia by humans.

Anatoly Derevyanko discovered and studied hundreds of most ancient archaeological artefacts in Altai, the Far East, Central and Southeast Asia; these are unique sources serving as evidence of humans’ first appearance in Eurasia 1.2 million to 800,000 years ago. He applied a multidisciplinary approach to trace the evolution of plants and wildlife. He initiated reform in anthropological classification within the context of modern knowledge in archaeology and genetics.

Mr Derevyanko’s latest archaeological discoveries in Altai became a global sensation and built the foundation for a new theory on the formation of anatomically and genetically modern humans. The study by the researcher of the anthropological remains from Denis Cave, approximately 50,000 years old, performed in one of the best laboratories in the world – the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology – established the existence of previously unknown populations of hominids, called the Homo Altaiensis.

This scientific discovery not only calls for revising many fundamental anthropogenic assumptions, but has great humanistic significance too, evidencing the role of species diversity of modern humans in the successful future evolution.

Mr Derevyanko is the author and co-author of more than a thousand printed works, including articles in the journals Nature and Science, and of one hundred studies, 16 of which were published in foreign languages.

The 2012 Russian Federation National Award in Science and Technology is conferred to Gleb Dobrovolsky (posthumously), Dmitry Pavlov and Andrei Adrianov for a series of fundamental works in studying biological diversity, its maintenance and the assurance of environmental safety

Gleb Dobrovolsky born on September 22, 1915 in Moscow and died on April 8, 2013; he was a Doctor of Biological Sciences, professor, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and recipient of the USSR National Prize in Science and Engineering (1987).

Dmitry Pavlov, born on July 26, 1938 in Moscow, is a Doctor of Biological Sciences, professor, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, director of the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, and head of the Chair of Ichthyology at the DEpartment of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Andrei Adrianov, born on January 2, 1964 in the town of Danilov, Yaroslavl Region, is a Doctor of Biological Sciences, professor, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, deputy chairman of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and director of the Zhirmunsky Institute of Marine Biology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; he is also the head of the Chair of Biodiversity and Marine Resources of the Far East Federal University.

Gleb Dobrovolsky, Dmitry Pavlov and Andrei Adrianov are well-known experts in the field of maintaining biodiversity and environmental safety.

Gleb Dobrovolsky was a prominent expert in the fields of soil science, general biology, ecology, biogeography and environmental heritage preservation.

Dmitry Pavlov is an expert in general biology, ichthyology, wildlife preservation and environmental safety.

Andrei Adrianov is an expert in the fields of comparative morphology, development biology, phylogeny and invertebrate classification, as well as marine biodiversity and ecology.

Working in different areas of land and marine biology, Mr Dobrovolsky, Mr Pavlov and Mr Adrianov made an extraordinary impact on the study of soil, freshwater and marine biodiversity with the goal of preserving and assuring their environmental safety. Their studies harmoniously complement one another.

The authors made significant contributions in the field of fundamental works on biodiversity for understanding the mechanisms and principles of the function of soil and water ecosystems, describing their diversity and role in assuring the stability of the biosphere. They published a large number of fundamental works on cataloguing biodiversity – atlases, illustrated identifiers, categories of soil and water organisms and descriptions of fauna, including more than 60 monographs. They received a range of patents and authorship certificates for their inventions.

The interdisciplinary studies by Gleb Dobrovolsky, Dmitry Pavlov and Andrei Adrianov allowed researchers to achieve more objective and professional assessments of problems and threats in the field of environmental safety and provide effective recommendations on preventing and counteracting those threats; these now serve as the foundation for many legislative initiatives and regulatory documents such as the National Strategy to Preserve Biodiversity, Strategy for Preserving Rare and Endangered Species, Environmental Doctrine of the Russian Federation, Red Data Book of the Russian Federation and Red Data Book of Russian Soils.

The 2012 Russian Federation National Award in Science and Technology is conferred to Georgy Karzov, Yaroslav Shtrombakh and Aleksei Dub for developing a new class of high radiation-resistant materials for nuclear reactor pressure vessels and methods for increasing their lifespan

Georgy Karzov, born on November 27, 1938 in Vyksa, Gorky Region, is a Doctor of Technical Sciences, deputy director general and head of the research and production unit of Prometey Central Research Institute of Structural Materials Research and Production Complex, and a recipient of the USSR National Prize.

Yaroslav Shtrombakh, born on August 9, 1949 in Leningrad, is a Doctor of Technical Sciences, deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre for nuclear technologies and director of the Kurchatov Centre for Nuclear Technologies.

Alexei Dub, born on July 25, 1960 in Moscow, is a Doctor of Technical Sciences and director general of the Central Research Institute for Mechanical Engineering Technologies.

Georgy Karzov, Yaroslav Shtrombakh and Alexei Dub are leading Russian experts in the field of materials science and structural durability of nuclear energy materials, as well as the physics and engineering of nuclear power generation systems.

One of the key elements of a nuclear power plant is the reactor pressure vessel, whose structural integrity assures the reliable and safe use of the nuclear reactor, which ultimately determines the lifespan of the nuclear power generation system and nuclear power plant overall.

The award recipients studied the main physical principles and fracture mechanics of the reactor steels, taking into account changes in their properties under the effect of thermal aging and neutron irradiation. Based on the data collected, they suggested a technology for creating precision alloys and technological production regimes from crystallisation processes to the final heat treatment. As a result, a new class of high radiation-resistant and highly stable steels was created for preparing reactor pressure vessels for a new generation of high-capacity plants, floating nuclear power plants and other marine technology units with a working lifespan from 60–80 to 100 years. For comparison, the design service life of a first- or second-generation nuclear power plant is approximately 30 years. The use of these materials virtually eliminates time limitations on their technical operation.

The authors developed a new technology for producing reactor pressure vessels from integrated semi-manufactured units, which greatly decreases the number of important connections and reduces the length of the cycle for producing reactor pressure vessels.

At the same time, improved materials with increased resistance to thermal and radioactive impact were developed and implemented in industrial production. These materials were used for preparing pressure vessels for nuclear reactors at the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China and the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in India, as well as preparing a large series of domestic AES-2006 nuclear power units.

The award winners have proposed and experimentally substantiated a set of computational techniques that allow engineers to reliably assess the safe operation of nuclear reactor pressure vessels, as well as their lifespans. These techniques are approved and admitted for use by the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological, and Nuclear Monitoring and are also included in the IAEA guideline documents and European standards for assessing durability.

The scale and depth of research and results obtained in this body of scientific and technological work surpasses the that of analogous research throughout the world, creating the opportunity to greatly increase the export potential of Russian nuclear power plants, for both the near future and in the long run.

The 2012 Russian Federation National Award in Science and Technology is conferred to Yefim Mezhiritsky, Sergei Nikulin and Viktor Shurygin for creating the Yars strategic missile system

Yefim Mezhiritsky, born on September 17, 1941 in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan Soviet Socialist Republic, is a Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor, CEO of the Academician Pilyugin Scientific Production Center of Automatics and Instrument-Making (Academician Pilyugin Center) of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and recipient of the USSR State Prize.

Sergei Nikulin, born on August 29, 1954 in Tashkent, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, is the CEO of the OAO Moscow Institute of Combustion Engineering Corporation of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)

Viktor Shurygin, born on December 23, 1945 in Tver, is a Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor, CEO and chief designer of the OAO Titan Central Design Bureau (CDB Titan) and honoured engineer of the Russian Federation.

The awardees’ research, scientific and organisational work has allowed, within the designated deadlines, for the production and entry into service of an advanced missile system that provides the foundation for grouping the Russian Strategic Missile Forces for the upcoming decades.

The RS-24 (Yars land-based mobile missile system) is a strategic mobile solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile with multiple warheads, which was developed using the latest achievements in Russian science and technology. It is a significant modernisation of the Topol-M missile complexes. In the future, it will replace the ICBM RS-18 and RS-20, which are currently in service; together with the Topol-M, it will be the core of the Strategic Missile Forces’ strike group.

In 2007–2008, three successful test launches of the RS-24 were conducted from the Plesetsk test range to the Kura test range. The tests demonstrated that the Yars land-based mobile missile complexe has many advantages compared to other domestic and foreign strategic missile systems: the ability to carry and use different amounts of a given type of combat equipment and various means to overcome an opponent’s missile defence; increased missile resistance to the effects of a nuclear explosion in flight; increased guaranteed lifespan for the missile and system; increased precision when launching from full operational readiness and reduced missile launching time from various stages of preparedness; the ability to operate within the conditions of large-scale use of weapons of mass destruction by adversaries; and the ability to launch missiles from any positioning area with suitable terrain.