Remembering Michael Balikhin
Colleagues across the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Michael Balikhin, known to many as Misha.
Michael (or Misha as he was known to colleagues) has been a pillar of the engineering community for over 30 years, in the area of space weather and nonlinear systems.
Misha graduated from the Moscow Physical-Technological Institute (MTFI or FizTech) and began his scientific career at the Institute of Space Research (IKI), Moscow. After working at Ben Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel and LPC2E/CNRS, Orleans, France, he joined Sheffield's Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering (now School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering) in 1995 as a Research Associate; as he pursued his academic ambitions he was promoted to a Chair position in 2007.
Misha contributed to numerous space missions, beginning with the VEGA mission to Comet Halley, Venus Express, Cassini, and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE). His largest involvement was as the PI of the DWP instruments onboard the European Space Agency (ESA) four-satellite Cluster mission for which he pushed the idea of making comparative measurements at short spatial scales.
Misha was the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics), published by American Geophysical Union (AGU), the most prestigious publication outlet in the discipline; a testament of the academic esteem in which Misha was held internationally. He made groundbreaking contributions to the fundamentals of plasma physics, including strongly nonlinear systems such as those observed at collisionless shocks and mirror structures. He revolutionised the approach to the observational analysis of waves in plasmas and made a decisive advance in the development of predictive methods for space weather. Often his ideas ran counter to the mainstream, only to become widely accepted and recognised later. Misha’s work received multiple grants from STFC, ESA, Leverhulme, Royal Society, NERC, Horizon 2020, FP7 (and others) and he had over 480 publications including books, research reports, journal articles and other outputs.
Misha relished a good scientific debate, and his blend of curiosity, warmth, and generosity left a lasting mark on all who worked with him. His kindness touched and nurtured many, not only among the staff at Sheffield but also throughout the wider Space Physics community. His unique personality drew people to him. His memory will continue to live on through his colleagues, students, and friends, whose ongoing contributions will carry his positive influence across the University and beyond.
As a School, we are deeply honoured to have had Misha as a valued colleague for many years. His generosity of spirit, sense of fun, and unwavering dedication to academia and the University remain a shining example to us all.