Vladimir P. Skripov has been working as a senior lecturer, professor, and dean of the Physico-Technical Faculty of the Ural Polytechnical Institute and from 1972 was a Director at the Ural Science Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. A thermophysical school has been formed under his guidance in 1988. At present he is adviser of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Institute of Thermal Physics, Ekaterinburg). Professor Skripov is a laureate of the State Prize in the field of science and technology.

Mars Z. Faizullin studied physics at the Ural Polytechnical Institute of Ekaterinburg, Russia. His research focuses on the experiment and theory of phase transitions and phase metastability in one- and multicomponent systems. Since 1975 he has been working at the Institute of Thermal Physics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Ekaterinburg where he accepted the post of Deputy Director in 2002.