Andrei Aleksandrovich Fursenko is a Russian politician, scientist and businessman. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation. He was the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation from 2004 to 2012. He is considered to be a member of the Saint Petersburg political groups under Vladimir Putin's presidency.

The Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is one of Russia's largest research centers specialized in physics and technology. The institute was established in 1918 in Petrograd and run for several decades by Abram Ioffe. The institute is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.