Oleg Lavrentovich

According to the decision of the Scientific Council of the ICMP of NAS of Ukraine from January 31, 2012 the title of Doctor honoris causa is conferred on Oleg Lavrentovich (Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA) for an outstanding contribution to the knowledge and understanding of the liquid crystalline state of matter as well as for an impact of the research and academic activities on the image of Ukrainian science around the world.

Professor Oleg D. Lavrentovich is a well-known scientist in the physics of liquid crystals and more generally in the soft matter physics.

Oleg Lavrentovich was born on May 25, 1958 in Vinnytsia region, in Ukraine. In 1980 he graduated with honors from the Department of Molecular Physics at the Physics Department of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Since 1980, Lavrentovich started working at the Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine as an engineer of photonics. In 1984 Oleg Lavrentovich received his Ph.D. degree (Study of topological defects in liquid crystals) and in 1990 - Doctor of Science degree (The topology of defects in liquid crystals). In 1987 he was awarded the Gold medal of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences with an Award for a young researcher for the work "Defects of Dirac monopole type in liquid crystals".

In 1992 Oleg Lavrentovich joined the Liquid Crystal Institute at the Kent State University (Ohio, USA) as a Senior Research Fellow. He served as the director of Liquid Crystal Institute in 2003-2011. Prof. Lavrentovich held visiting appointments at the University P. et M. Curie, University Denis Diderot in France and other universities.

The main scientific interests and achievements of Professor Lavrentovich concern the areas of theoretical and experimental studies of topological and structural defects in liquid crystals. Among others, he suggested the current classification of possible topological defects in liquid crystals. In addition, Lavrentovich is intensively working on the problems of surface phenomena, problems in electrooptic effects, explores lyotropic system. Lavrentovich launched a new line of liquid crystal research, which is associated with liquid crystal colloids. Throughout all this time Lavrentovich maintains close scientific contacts with scientists from Ukraine.

Oleg Lavrentovich is co-author of two books, namely, "Defects in Liquid Crystals: Computer Simulations, Theory and Experiment" (authors O.D. Lavrentovich, P. Pasini, C. Zannoni, S. Zumer), publisher Kluwer Academic Publishers: The Netherlands (2001) and "Soft Matter Physics: An Introduction" (authors M. Kleman, OD Lavrentovich) publisher Springer Verlag: New York, (2003). In addition, he is the author of chapters to 10 other books and collective monographs. In the database ISI Web of Knowledge there is more than 200 of articles authored by O.D. Lavrentovich.

Professor Lavrentovich is the editor of Liquid Crystals Reviews (Taylor & Francis), member of the Editorial Boards of Liquid Crystals, Condensed Matter Physics, Ukrainian Journal of Physics and Advisor of the Kent State University SPIE Student Chapter. In 2010 Prof. Lavrentovich was guest editor of a special issue of Condensed Matter Physics, dedicated to the liquid crystal colloids.

Professor Lavrentovich is a Fellow International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE). Member of Americal Physical Society, International Liquid Crystal Society, Materials Research Society; Americal Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2002 he was awarded NorTech Innovation Award for liquid crystal-based biodetection technology. From 1996 to 2000 Oleg Lavrentovich was a member of the Board of Directors and Membership Secretary of International Liquid Crystal Society. Organizer and leader of many international conferences on the subject of liquid crystals. In particular, the 2005 Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Liquid Crystals. In 2000, Co-organizer (with P.Pasini, C. Zannoni, S. Zumer) of Advanced Research Workshop on Computer Simulations of Defects in Liquid Crystals, held by NATO Science Program in Erice, Italy. In October of 2011, Oleg Lavrentovich was co-chair of the Planer-Smoluchowski Soft Matter Workshop, supported by ICAM/I2CAM, which allowed for many leading scientists from the U.S., Japan and Europe for the first time to visit and discover the Ukraine.