Flow of a visco-elastic polymer solution can become quite irregular even at low velocity, high viscosity, and in a small vessel. The flow resistance increases by a factor of about twenty and can be compared to turbulent flow in a pipe at high Reynolds numbers, the velocity power spectra show algebraic decay, and mixing is enhanced many orders of magnitude. While the Reynolds number may be arbitrary low, the observed flow shows main features of developed turbulence. This elastic turbulenceis accompanied by significant stretching of the polymer molecules. By studying dynamics and statistics of stretching of DNA molecules with known elastic properties in elastic turbulence created by the unlabeled molecules we for the first time are able to quantitatively estimate elastic stresses. This information is used to disprove theory of elastic turbulence based on a model of polymers with linear elasticity. 

1962 M.A. Mechanical Engineering, Kharkov Polytechnical Institute, USSR
1966 M.A. Physics, Kharkov State University, USSR
1971 Ph.D. Physics, Scientific Research Institute of Physico-Technical Measurements, Moscow, USSR
1964-1968 Research Fellow Scientific Research Inst. of Iron and Steel Metallurgy, Kharkov, USSR
1968-1971 Research Fellow, Scientific Research Inst. of Physico-Technical Measurements, Moscow, USSR
1971-1974 Sr. Res. Fellow, Scientific Research Inst. of Iron and Steel Metallurgy, Kharkov, USSR
1975-1980 Sr. Lecturer and Sr. Res. Fellow, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
1980-1983 Res. Assoc., Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, U.S.A.
1983-1989 Assoc. Professor, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
1987-1988 Ulam Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Los Alamos Nat. Lab., Univ. of California, NM, U.S.A.
1989-present Professor, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
1992-present  The Harry De Jur Professorial Chair in Applied Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
1993-1994 Visiting Professor, Ecole Normale Superieure, Labor.de Physique, Lyon, France
1994 (Summer) Humboldt Professor, University of Bayreuth, Germany
1998-1999 Humboldt Professor, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany
2000-2002 (February-March) Visiting Distinguished Professor, University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France
2004 (June-August), Visiting Professor, ICTP, Trieste, Italy
2006 (February-April) Humboldt Professor, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany
2009 (October-November) JSPS Visiting Professor, University of Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan

Awards:
1987 Ulam Distinguished Scholar LANL, USA
1993 Lise Meitner-Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for the Scientific Cooperation between Israel and Germany
2000-2003 Municipal Professorial Chair of the University of Joseph Fourier supported by the town Grenoble, University of Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France
2009 October-November　 JSPS Fellow, Universities of Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan
2009-2010 C.N. Yang Visiting Professorship, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Area of Interest:
1. Soft Matter Hydrodynamics: polymer solutions, suspension of vesicles, capsules, red blood cells, etc.
2. Dynamics of soft micro-objects in various flows
3. Convective and hydrodynamic turbulence
4. Hydrodynamic instabilities, pattern formation and dynamics in nonequilibrium systems, defect dynamics
5. Hydrodynamics of fluid near the gas-liquid critical point
6. Superfluidity and superfluid hydrodynamics
7. Dynamics and hydrodynamics of complex plasma

Publications:
over 170 publications in the leading international journals and 5 patents