General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GPI RAS) was organized in 1982 by the Nobel Prize winner, Academician A.M. Prokhorov, who headed it until 1998. From 1998 to 2002, Prokhorov was a honorary director of the institute. Since 1998, GPI RAS has been headed by Corresponding Member of RAS Ivan Aleksandrovich Shcherbakov. In 2002, the institute was named after Academician A.M. Prokhorov. The institute was based on Division A of the Lebedev Physical Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences (FIAN). This division included the Laboratory of Oscillations, Laboratory of Plasma Physics, and Laboratory of Solid State Physics. These subdivisions determined the structure and tasks of the new institute. The history of GPI RAS is inseparably linked to the famous Laboratory of Oscillations of FIAN, which was formed in 1934 (initially, the Department of Oscillations). The prominent scientists heading this laboratory in different years - Academicians N.D. Papaleksi (from 1934 to 1947), M.A. Leontovich (from 1947 to 1954), and A.M. Prokhorov (from 1954 to 1998) - developed its traditions and made outstanding scientific discoveries. Academician L.A. Mandelshtam also actively participated in the scientific guidance of the Laboratory of Oscillations. In 1964, two researchers of the laboratory, A.M. Prokhorov and N.G. Basov, were awarded (along with C. Townes, the United States) a Nobel prize in physics for the fundamental work in quantum electronics, which led to the development of generators and amplifiers based on the laser-maser principle.
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