Vaqif Ahmadov was born on 22 January 1941. In 1958, he entered  Baku State University, Faculty of Chemistry, graduating with honors in 1963. He started his career at the Institute of Petrochemical Processes named after Y. Mammadaliyev, Academy of Sciences. In 1963, he embarked on postgraduate studies at the Institute of A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of USSR Academy of Sciences, where he defended a PhD thesis. He then returned to the Institute of Petrochemical Processes, and served as a junior and senior research fellow and laboratory head. In 1977, he obtained a ScD degree, and was made a professor in 1982. From 1984 to 1998, he chaired the Department of Petrochemistry and Chemistry of Higher Molecular Compounds, BSU. Vaqif Ahmadov now heads the Laboratory of Nanocomposite Catalysts, Institute of Catalysis and Inorganic Chemistry named after M.F. Naghıyev, Academy of Sciences. His major research areas include oligomerization and polymerization processes, and metal complexes. He has published over 190 papers, and is the holder of five patents and 45 authorship certificates. He has supervised one ScD and 15 PhD students to completion. Vaqif Ahmadov founded the first metal complex catalyst research laboratories at the Institute of Petrochemical Processes (1977) and then at BSU (1988). He has served as a professor and research fellow at the University of Oxford (England), the University of Kansas (USA), University of Rome (Italy), Middle East Technical University (Turkey) and King Abdulaziz Research Center (Saudi Arabia). He sits on the Thesis Council, Institute of Catalysis and Inorganic Chemistry.