Jaak Aaviksoo

Jaak Aaviksoo ( born January 11, 1954 in Tartu) is an Estonian scientists and politicians.

Scientist

Jaak Aaviksoo laid in 1971 graduated from high school at the secondary school No. 2, now Miina Härma High School, in South-Estonian Tartu.

Finally, he studied physical chemistry at the State University of Tartu. He completed his studies in Theoretical Physics in 1976 with cum laude. 1981, he completed his doctorate.

From 1981 to 1992 scientific research stays have led him to Novosibirsk, Paris, Osaka and a scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart. Until 1992, he taught at the Physics Institute of the Estonian Academy of Sciences.

He was appointed professor at the University of Tartu in 1992. Aaviksoo has published nearly 200 scientific articles and publications since 1976. In 1992 he returned to the University of Tartu and became a professor of optics and spectroscopy. From 1992 to 1995 he was First Vice - Rector of the University.

Aavikso is since 2004 member of the Estonian Academy of Science and is one of the Academia Europaea at. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Turku and the University of Lapland.

Politician

With restoration of Estonian independence Aaviksoo was also active politically, first in the liberal Reform Party. From November 1995 to January 1996 he was Minister of Culture and Education and after a cabinet reshuffle by the end of November 1996 Estonian Minister of Education in the cabinet of Prime Minister Tiit Vähi.

Rector

1998 Aaviksoo left the party and retired from active politics. He went back to science and teaching. In 1998 he was elected Rector of the University of Tartu. In 2003 he successfully ran for a second term. His term as rector ended in 2007.

Politician

Aaviksoo joined in 2006 the Conservative Party Isamaa yes Res Publica Liit and became after the 2007 parliamentary elections deputy in the Estonian Parliament ( Riigikogu ). In the cabinet of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip he held from April 2007 to April 2011, the Office of the Estonian Defence. From April 2011 until the breakup of the coalition government in March 2014, he was Minister of Education and Research of the Republic of Estonia in the Cabinet Ansip III.

Private life

Jaak Aaviksoo has three children. He speaks Estonian and German, English, Russian, French and Spanish.

1972 and 1973 was 196 cm Aaviksoo with the University of Tartu Estonian champion team in basketball.