Jaak Aaviksoo

Education and career in science

Aaviksoo was born in Tartu. After finishing Tartu Secondary School No. 2 (present-day Miina Härma Gymnasium) in 1971, he entered the Tartu State University physics department in the chemistry-physics faculty and graduated cum laude in the field of theoretical physics in 1976. From 1976 to 1992 he was first junior, then senior and then leading scientist at the Physics Institute of the Estonian Academy of Sciences (named Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR until 1988). There he also became a Ph.D. in Physics (Thesis: "On Resonant Secondary Emission in Sodium Nitrite and Anthracene") in 1981. Aaviksoo was the first president of the Estonian Physical Society, founded in 1989. In 1992 he returned to Tartu University, this time as a professor of optics and spectroscopy. In 1995 he was the acting director of the Tartu University institute of experimental physics and technology and from 1992 to 1995 also the first pro-rector of Tartu University. He became a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and thus an academician in 1994. From 1981 to 1994 Aaviksoo worked in many foreign institutes as a guest professor, namely the Novosibirsk Institute of Thermal Physics, the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Osaka University and University of Paris VII: Denis Diderot.

First spell as a politician and rectorate of Tartu University

From November 1995 to January 1996 he was Minister of Culture and Education and from then to November 1997 he was the Estonian Minister of Education in the governments of Tiit Vähi. He became the rector of Tartu University in 1998. He won a second and final five-year term in 2003, but resigned in 2006 to once again pursue a political career.

Elections in 2007

In 2006 Jaak Aaviksoo announced that he would be leaving the post of rector of Tartu University to run for a seat in the Estonian parliament or Riigikogu in the 2007 elections, this time not as a member of the Reform Party, but as a member of liberal conservative Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica. Before joining the party and leaving his post as rector, Aaviksoo was considered as a candidate for the presidential elections in 2006, which were won by Toomas Hendrik Ilves. After already having joined Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica, Aaviksoo sought to become the party's leader for the 2007 parliamentary elections and so candidate for Prime Minister of Estonia, but lost a closely contested duel within the party to internationally renowned two-time former Prime Minister Mart Laar.

In the elections he gained 4241 votes in his district and was elected to Riigikogu. Aaviksoo's party was left third in the elections with 19 seats after the Reform Party with 31 and the Centre Party with 29 seats. After Andrus Ansip, leader of the Reform Party, invited Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica to form a coalition government, Aaviksoo was tipped for several high positions, i.e. the Speaker of Riigikogu and Minister of Economics. Surprisingly, he took the post of Minister of Defence instead.

Minister of Defense

Having assumed office on 5 April 2007, his first primary goals as Minister of Defence were restructuring the power management of the Estonian Defense Forces and dealing with the situation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, a Soviet war monument, which was moved to a cemetery, causing much controversy and ethnic tension between a large proportion Estonians and local Russians. He also saw the Estonian youth's weak will of defending their country as a serious problem.

Personal life

Jaak Aaviksoo is a father of three. He speaks fluent English, German, Russian and French on an average level.

Works

Aaviksoo has publicized over 100 scientific articles and over 80 publicistic articles from 1976 to 2002. His more important publifications from the past decade are:

Honors