Dr. Alexey Vikhlinin (born September 17, 1970) is a Russian-American astrophysicist notable for achievements in the astrophysics of high energy phenomenon, namely galaxy cluster cosmology and the design of space-based X-ray observatories. He is currently a Senior Astrophysicist and Deputy Associate Director of the High Energy Astrophysics Division at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the Science and Technology Definition Team (STDT) Community Co-Chair (along with Feryal Özel) for the Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded Large Mission Concept Study under consideration by the 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics.