On August 25, 2021, our colleague and friend Professor Maxim Polyakov passed
away, much too early at the age of only 55.
Maxim Polyakov was a theoretical physicist, internationally recognized for his work
on non-perturbative phenomena of the strong interaction and hadron physics.
Born on March 19, 1966 in Irkutsk, Russia, Maxim studied theoretical physics at the
St. Petersburg University. In 1993, he received his PhD degree (Candidate of Science)
in theoretical and mathematical physics under the supervision of the late
Prof. Dmitri Diakonov at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI) in Gatchina.
In 2003, Maxim Polyakov was appointed Professor at the University of Liege, Belgium.
Since 2005 he was a Professor in Theoretical Hadron Physics at the Ruhr University
Bochum.
Maxim Polyakov's research was mainly focused on non-perturbative aspects of
Quantum Chromodynamics. In 1997, he predicted together with D. Diakonov and
V. Petrov the existence of a light pentaquark state within the framework of the chiral
soliton model. He also made significant contributions to the theory of the instanton
vacuum, generalized parton distributions, hard exclusive reactions and more recently
the gravitational form factors of hadrons. During his scientific career, Maxim received
several research prizes, most notably the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award of the Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation in 2002. He is an author of more than 180 research publications.
He was also an excellent teacher and supervisor. Several of his students have gained
their own scientific merits.
We will hold Maxim Polyakov in greateful and honorable remembrance.
Obituary: Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (in russian language)
Obituary: Jefferson Lab (in Englisch)
