Anastassia Makarieva graduated from Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, Faculty of Physics and Mechanics, in 1996 and obtained her PhD in atmospheric physics from St. Petersburg State University in 2000. Since 1996, she has been working in the Theoretical Physics Division of Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute investigating the life-environment interactions in the framework of the biotic regulation concept founded by Prof. Victor Gorshkov. In co-authorship with V.G. Gorshkov, Anastassia formulated the concept of the biotic pump of atmospheric moisture highlighting key ecological feedback on atmospheric moisture transport (2007) and, in cooperation with an international team of colleagues, demonstrated the existence of life’s metabolic optimum (broadly universal rate of energy consumption across life’s kingdoms) (2008). Combining theoretical work with field observations, Anastassia spent over sixty months doing forest research in the Russian wilderness. Her current research interests focus on deepening the physical understanding of ecosystem feedback on the water cycle and moisture transport.

Selected Awards

• 2021 Anna Boyksen research fellowship in the Institute for Advanced Study, Technical University of Munich

• 2008 L’Oréal-UNESCO-Russian Academy of Sciences prize “For Women in Science”

• 2000-2001 research fellowship in the Collegium Budapest Institute for Advanced Studies, Hungary

Research Interests and publications

• Physical and biological bases of life stability, please see https://bioticregulation.ru