Born in
Novo-Ivankovo, now part of
Dubna, Zamolodchikov earned a
M.Sc. in
nuclear engineering (1975) from
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, a
Ph.D. in
physics from the
Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (1978). He joined the research staff of
Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics (1978) where he got a
Doctor of Sciences degree (1983). He co-authored the famous
BPZ paper "Infinite Conformal Symmetry in Two-Dimensional Quantum Field Theory", with
Alexander Polyakov and
Alexander Belavin. He joined
Rutgers University (1990) where he co-founded Rutgers New High Energy Theory Center, and was named Board of Governors Professor (2005). In 2016, he became the inaugural holder of the
C. N. Yang/Wei Deng Chair in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics at
Stony Brook University. He is the twin brother of the late
Alexei Zamolodchikov (1952–2007), also a noted physicist. ==Awards==