The first recipients of the award were doctor Yevgeny Achkasov, mineralogy specialist Sergei Krivovichev, mathematician Alexander Kuznetsov, and astrophysicist Mikhail Revnivtsev.
The award ceremony, timed to coincide with Russian Science Day, took place in the Kremlin’s Catherine Hall. Dmitry Medvedev congratulated the laureates on their achievements and presented them with medals, diplomas, and the accompanying certificates.
In his remarks at the ceremony, the President noted the importance of incentives and prizes and announced that he has signed a decree increasing the Presidential Grants for young scientists. The decree will increase the grant for a Ph.D. degree holder to 600,000 roubles (around $16,000) and for a D.Sc. degree holder to one million roubles (around $28,000), Mr Medvedev said, expressing the hope that the increases would give an important boost to raising the level of research.
Mr Medvedev signed the Decree ‘On the Russian Federation President Prize in Science and Innovation for Young Scientists’ in July 2008. The decree established a prize that is awarded to citizens of Russia for their important contribution to developing Russian science and their innovative work. The prize aims to encourage further research and create good conditions for new scientific discoveries and innovative achievements.