Founded in July 1985, the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ERIRAS) was originally an outgrowth of the general energy department at Institute for High Temperatures RAS (IVTAN). The staff at the newly formed organization comprised professionals gathered from other scientific organizations. At the time of its creation, ERIRAS’ challenge was to develop the basic content and quantitative substantiation for the Energy Program of the USSR. The first director of ERIRAS was Lev Aleksandrovich Milentyev, an Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. At present, Academician Aleksei Aleksandrovich Makarov is the director of the Institute.