Ilya G. Usoskin

Ilya G. Usoskin is a Finnish astrophysicist who is a professor at University of Oulu and head of Cosmic Ray Station at Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory. He is a Vice President of the International Astronomical Union since 2021.

Education

In 1982, Ilya Usoskin graduated from the Saint Petersburg Lyceum 239 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 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, where he obtained the Candidate of Sciences degree in astrophysics in 1995. During 1997–1999, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the INFN Milano working on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment. Since 2000, he has been a staff of the University of Oulu—head of the Oulu Cosmic Ray station.

In 2000, he got PhD in Space Physics, In 2014-2015, he was a visiting professor at IPGP. Currently (2025-2027), he is also a Designated professor at Nagoya University.

Recognition and honors 2013: Knight's Cross, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland for the promotion of national science. 2015-2024: member of C4 (Astroparticle Physics) of IUPAP. 2018: Julius Bartels medal of the European Geosciences Union for the foundation of the Space Climate discipline. 2019: elected member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. 2020: Annual Award of the ISEE of Nagoya University for research of extreme solar events. 2021-2027: Vice President of the International Astronomical Union. -- PI. Finnish Centre of Excellence of the Academy of Finland ReSoLVE (2014–2019) -- (vice) Director. Finnish Centre of Excellence of the Research Council of Finland in Space Resilience (2026-2033) -- Task leader

Research Usoskin works in the fields of Solar Physics, Cosmic Rays, Heliosphere and Space Climate. 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 Space Climate, 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; Foundation of a new paradigm of extreme solar events known also as Miyake events.

Selected publications