Dr. Alexander A. Kokhanovsky has been born in Ivenez (Belarus) on June 4, 1961. He has studied theoretical physics at the Belarussian State University in MInsk, Belarus (1978-1983). Dr. Kokhanovsky received his PhD from the Institute of Physics (National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk) in 1991 for his work on optical properties of foams and aerosols. Subsequently, he has been awarded a Doctor of Science degree at Main Geophysical Observatory (St. Petersburg, Russia, 2011) for the development of remote sensing techniques to study global cloud and snow cover using satellite observations. He has worked at several scientific institutes worldwide such as Institute of Physics (Minsk, 1983-2004), Earth Observation Research Center (Tokyo, 1996-1997), Institute of Particle Technology (Clausthal-Zellerfeld, 1997-1998), Imperial College (1999-2000), Bremen University (2001-2013), and the Department of Remote Sensing Products of European Organization for Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT, 2014-2017). His work is directed towards the development of software to be used for the retrieval of atmospheric aerosol, trace gases, snow, ice and cloud characteristics using optical spaceborne observations.