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 2002, he became a Docent, and a full permanent Professor in 2012. 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.
Major research grants European Research Council Synergy Grant GERACLE (2025–2031) -- 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 Usoskin, Ilya G.; Solanki, Sami K.; Schüssler, Manfred; Mursula, Kalevi; Alanko, Katja (2003), "A Millennium Scale Sunspot Number Reconstruction: Evidence For an Unusually Active Sun Since the 1940s", Physical Review Letters, 91 (21) 211101, arXiv:astro-ph/0310823, Bibcode:2003PhRvL..91u1101U, doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.211101, PMID 14683287 Solanki, Sami K.; Usoskin, Ilya G.; Kromer, Bernd; Schüssler, Manfred; Beer, Jürg (2004), "Unusual activity of the Sun during recent decades compared to the previous 11,000 years", Nature, 431 (7012): 1084–1087, Bibcode:2004Natur.431.1084S, doi:10.1038/nature02995, PMID 15510145 Usoskin, I.G.; Alanko-Huotari, K.; Kovaltsov, G.A.; Mursula, K. (2005), "Heliospheric modulation of cosmic rays: Monthly reconstruction for 1951-2004", Journal of Geophysical Research, 110 (A12): A12108, Bibcode:2005JGRA..11012108U, doi:10.1029/2005JA011250 Usoskin, I.G.; Kovaltsov, G.A. (2006), "Cosmic ray induced ionization in the atmosphere: Full modeling and practical applications", Journal of Geophysical Research, 111 (D21): D21206, Bibcode:2006JGRD..11121206U, doi:10.1029/2006JD007150 Usoskin, I.G.; Kromer, B.; Ludlow, F.; Beer, J.; Friedrich, M.; Kovaltsov, G.A.; Solanki, S.K.; Wacker, L. (2013), "The AD775 cosmic event revisited: the Sun is to blame", Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters, 552: L3, arXiv:1302.6897, Bibcode:2013A&A...552L...3U, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321080 Usoskin, Ilya G. (2017), "A history of solar activity over millennia", Living Reviews in Solar Physics, 14 (1): 3, arXiv:0810.3972, Bibcode:2017LRSP...14....3U, doi:10.1007/s41116-017-0006-9 Usoskin, I.G.; Miyake, F.; Baroni, M.; et al. (2023), "Extreme Solar Events: Setting up a Paradigm", Space Science Reviews, 219 (8): 73, Bibcode:2023SSRv..219...73U, doi:10.1007/s11214-023-01018-1, hdl:20.500.11850/641517 Heaton, T.; Bard, E.; Bayliss, A.; Blaauw, M.; Bronk Ramsey, C.; Reimer, P.J.; Turney, C.S.M.; Usoskin, I.G. (2024), "Extreme solar storms and the quest for exact dating with radiocarbon", Nature, 633: 306, Bibcode:2024Natur.633..306H, doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07679-4 Vasiliev, V.; Reinhold, T.; Shapiro, A.; Usoskin, I.; et al. (2024), "Sun-like stars produce superflares roughly once per century", Science, 386: 1301, arXiv:2412.12265, doi:10.1126/science.adl5441
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