International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, IEAS

Academician

Yrjo Viisanen

Profile:

Elected Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences on 24 June 2013, Professor Yrjö Viisanen is a distinguished Finnish atmospheric physicist and an internationally recognised scholar of aerosol nucleation, atmospheric chemistry, and climate–aerosol interactions. Born in Finland, he received his M.Sc. in 1988 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Helsinki in 1991. He began his research career at the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) in 1986 and, following a postdoctoral appointment in Göttingen, Germany, from 1992 to 1993, returned to FMI, where he progressed from Senior Scientist to Research Manager and subsequently served as Professor and Research Director from 2004 to 2017. He currently holds a Research Professorship at FMI and has served as Docent at the University of Helsinki since 1994 and at the University of Eastern Finland since 1999. Through his leadership at FMI and sustained participation in international atmospheric research programmes and European research infrastructures, he has contributed to the development of coordinated approaches to atmospheric observation and aerosol research.

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Professor Viisanen’s research has focused on the fundamental processes governing atmospheric aerosol formation and growth, with particular emphasis on the roles of sulfuric acid, ammonia, and galactic cosmic rays in new-particle nucleation, as well as the sources and atmospheric significance of natural aerosols over boreal forests. Through long-term participation in the CLOUD experiment at CERN and research associated with the Pallas Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) station in northern Finland, he has contributed to the molecular-level understanding of atmospheric nucleation and to the assessment of biogenic aerosol formation and its implications for climate and air quality. His selected works address the roles of sulfuric acid, ammonia, and galactic cosmic rays in atmospheric aerosol nucleation, the molecular mechanisms of sulfuric acid–amine particle formation, natural aerosol loading over boreal forests, homogeneous nucleation rates of water, and the BIOFOR project on biogenic aerosol formation in boreal forests. Collectively, these contributions reflect a sustained research programme connecting molecular-scale studies of aerosol formation with long-term atmospheric observations and the broader scientific understanding of climate and air-quality processes across northern Eurasia.