Ryutov graduated from the
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1962 and from the
Kurchatov Institute in 1965, where he received his doctorate in plasma theory in 1966. From 1968 to 1997, he was at the
Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in
Novosibirsk, where he expanded the fusion research program from 1979 and was promoted from deputy director to chief scientist in 1994. He was also a professor of plasma physics at the
Novosibirsk State University. From 1994, he was a senior visiting scientist at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he became a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff in 2012. Ryutov retired from LLNL in 2016. Among other things, he dealt with
mirror machines (including having proposed the
Gas Dynamic Trap (GDT) in Novosibirsk), Tokamak divertors,
particle beams with high energy density, the
Z-Pinch, solar and space physics, laboratory astrophysics,
X-ray optics and
magnetic levitation. He was involved in the experimental magnetic levitation system
Inductrack, the Snowflake Divertor for tokamaks and X-ray diagnostics at
Linac Coherent Light Source. == Honors and awards ==