Victor Georgievich Veselago was born on June 13, 1929 in the village of Kichkass, Zaporizhzhya region of the Ukrainian SSR (Dneprostroy). In 1947, he attended the Physics and Technology Faculty of Moscow State University, where he studied until 1951. He was transferred to the Physics Department of Moscow State University, and he graduated in 1952. Later he worked at the Lebedev Physical Institute, and since 1982, at the Institute of General Physics of the Academy of Sciences. In 1961, Veselago began teaching at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He actively participated in the organization of the Faculty of Physics and Energy Problems and the Faculty of Applied Physics.

Veselago was the author of more than 150 scientific papers. Under his leadership, a unique Solenoid installation was created to obtain constant strong magnetic fields, which solved the problem of providing fundamental and applied research in the country with strong magnetic fields, for which he was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1976. He was also awarded OSA’s C.E.K. Mees Medal in 2009, and elected an OSA Fellow in 2010.

Veselago passed away in 2018.