Valentyn Smyntyna

Valentyn Smyntyna died on 9 October 2026, aged 78, in the 79th year of his life. Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University announced the death through its rectorate and trade union on its Facebook page, and his daughter Olena also shared the news. The cause of death has not been made public, and the place of death has not been specified in reports.

Tributes came from across Ukraine's academic community, including the Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University, which expressed condolences to his family, colleagues and everyone who worked with him. A farewell ceremony is scheduled for Monday 12 October 2026 at 11:00 in the main building of the university, to be followed at 12:30 by burial at the Second Christian Cemetery in Odesa.

Valentyn Andriiovych Smyntyna was born on 8 September 1948 in the village of Vyshneve in Odesa Oblast. At the time the village belonged to the Tatarbunary district; today it is part of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district. He grew up in the family of a village schoolteacher.

He attended the secondary school in Tuzly, graduating in 1966 with a gold medal, the highest school distinction of the time. That same year he left for Odesa to study physics.

In 1966 he entered the physics faculty of Odesa State University named after I. I. Mechnikov. In his second year he began working as a laboratory assistant in the university's semiconductor research group, the start of a lifelong focus on semiconductors.

He graduated with honours in 1971 and completed postgraduate study at the university in 1974. In 1977 he defended his candidate of sciences dissertation on the chemisorption, diffusion and redox interaction of thin cadmium selenide layers with oxygen. In 1988 he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Institute of Semiconductors of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv, on electrophysical, photoelectric and electron molecular phenomena at the boundaries of polycrystalline cadmium selenide and cadmium sulfide films. He received the title of senior researcher in 1984 and of professor in 1992.

From 1974 he worked at the university as junior, senior, leading and chief researcher, and later as professor of experimental physics. In the 1980s he also served as deputy dean of the physics faculty for research.

His research examined the mechanisms of electron molecular processes on the surfaces and interfaces of semiconductors, which grew into a distinct research direction. In 1989 he founded the research laboratory of Sensor Electronics and Technology, where his group studied polycrystalline II-VI semiconductor films, the effect of surface doping, and the practical use of these findings in adsorption sensitive elements for a new generation of gas analysis devices. Later work extended to oxide and multicomponent semiconductors, the recording and storage of electromagnetic radiation, and silicon mono, poly, micro and nanocrystals.

He headed the Department of Experimental Physics from 1994 and led the university's scientific school of semiconductor surface physics. His output totals about 800 publications, including 15 monographs, more than 300 articles in foreign journals, 15 textbooks and 43 author's certificates and patents. Researchers from his school defended 23 doctoral, 70 candidate and two PhD dissertations.

He was vice-president of the Ukrainian Physical Society, a member of the Committee on State Prizes of Ukraine, deputy chair of the Scientific Council on Semiconductor Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and deputy chair of the Southern Scientific Centre of the Academy.

After serving as vice-rector for international cooperation from 1992 to 1995, he became rector of Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University in 1995 and led it for fifteen years, a period that coincided with the hard early decades of Ukrainian independence.

Under his leadership the university created three new faculties (economics and law, philosophy, and pre-university training) and three teaching and research units (an institute, a college and a technical school). Enrolment of students and trainees grew from about 9,500 to 21,000, including almost 800 foreign citizens. The number of Doctors of Sciences on the staff rose from 95 to 168 and candidates of sciences from 450 to 800, while postgraduate numbers reached 520 across 85 specialities. The university says that on several main indicators it rose to third or fourth place among Ukraine's classical universities.

He placed strong emphasis on international ties, signing cooperation agreements with foreign universities, including one with a university in Budapest reported in 2010. In 1999 he opened a teaching and research centre for medical and biological physics. After leaving the post in 2010 he stayed on as adviser to the rector.

His daughter is Olena Smyntyna, a historian and archaeologist who is a professor at Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University. Announcing his death, she wrote that he had worked until the last day of his life, that he cared intensely about everything concerning her, and that to her he was above all her father and "a whole universe".

Details of his marriage have not been made public. Colleagues noted his command of several foreign languages, which supported his wide international scientific contacts.

Smyntyna is remembered as one of the defining rectors of Odesa University in the post-Soviet era, credited with expanding its faculties, student body and scientific staff while keeping it internationally connected. His research school in semiconductor surface physics and gas sensors continues through dozens of doctors and candidates of sciences he trained.

In its statement the university said colleagues would remember him as a person of high culture, intellect and broad erudition, attentive to people and respectful of other views, and that his work as scientist, teacher and leader had become part of the university's history.

Honoured Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine (2000). Excellence in Education of Ukraine badge (2000). Golden medal "10 Years of Independence of Ukraine", first class (2001). Gold medal of the Society for the Encouragement of Industry, France (2002). Order of the Golden Cross of Saints Peter and Paul (2003), as listed by Ukrainian Wikipedia. Order of Merit, third class (2004). Diploma of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2006). Honorary Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (2007). State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology (2007). National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine distinction for training the next generation of scientists (2007) and badge "For Scientific Achievements" (2008). Honorary Diploma of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2008). Star of Italian Solidarity, an Italian government award. In total, the university says he received more than 250 state and departmental distinctions and awards from seven countries. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Higher Education of Ukraine from 1997.

Among his books are the monograph on electron molecular phenomena on semiconductor surfaces and cadmium selenide and sulfide films (Astroprint, 2008), a companion volume on semiconductor gas sensors (2009), the textbook Physico-chemical Phenomena on the Surface of Solids (2008, Ukrainian edition 2009), the textbook Optics (second revised edition, 2008), and Surface Phenomena in Semiconductors (2016). He also edited the 2005 report on the comprehensive survey of the ecosystems of Zmiinyi Island and the adjacent Black Sea shelf carried out in 2003.