Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GPI RAS) was organized in 1982 on the basis of Division A of the Lebedev Physical Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences, by Academician Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov. He became the first director of the new institute. Since 1998, the General Physics Institute has been headed by Corresponding Member of RAS Ivan Aleksandrovich Shcherbakov. In 2002, the institute was named after Academician A.M. Prokhorov. The main directions of research at the institute are as follows: laser physics and optics; quantum electronics; integrated optics; technology of new materials; condensed matter physics; surface physics; micro- and nanoelectronics; plasma physics and controlled thermonuclear fusion; hydrophysics, including ocean acoustics and nonlinear acoustic diagnostics; laser medicine and ecology.