International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, IEAS

Academician

Ari Laaksonen

Profile:

Elected Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences on 8 July 2015, Professor Ari Laaksonen is a distinguished Finnish atmospheric physicist and an internationally recognised authority on aerosol–cloud interactions, atmospheric nucleation, and climate change. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Helsinki in 1990 and 1992, respectively, and subsequently held research appointments at the University of Chicago and the Academy of Finland. He became Professor of Environmental Physics at the University of Eastern Finland in 1998 and joined the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) in 2008, where he currently serves as Chief Scientist and Scientific Director. In 2020, he was appointed Academy Professor by the Academy of Finland for the 2021–2026 term, recognising his position as an internationally leading researcher with substantial scientific impact. Since 2014, he has consistently ranked among the world’s most highly cited researchers in the geosciences.

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Professor Laaksonen’s research has focused on the microphysical processes governing atmospheric aerosols, cloud formation, and climate, particularly heterogeneous and ice nucleation and the role of volatile organic compound oxidation products in atmospheric particle formation. By combining laboratory experiments, molecular-level modelling, and atmospheric simulations, he has developed theoretical frameworks for adsorption and nucleation on solid surfaces, extended Köhler theory to account for soluble trace gases and slightly soluble substances, and advanced understanding of surfactant effects on cloud-droplet activation. He has authored 254 peer-reviewed publications, with an h-index of 63, more than 16,300 citations, and 11 papers published in Nature and Science. His selected works address the fundamental mechanisms of vapour adsorption and nucleation, long-term temperature trends, the contribution of organic oxidation products to continental new particle formation, and refinements of Köhler theory for cloud activation. Collectively, these contributions demonstrate a sustained research programme linking molecular-scale atmospheric physics with the quantitative understanding of aerosol–cloud processes and their implications for climate prediction.