[2] His research interests covered physical aspects of nonlinear wave theory in plasmas, hydrodynamics, oceanology, geophysics, solid state physics, optics, and general relativity.

He published several books of poetry in Russia and his works regularly appeared in periodicals, such as Novy Mir, in the 1990s and 2000s.

A collection of his poetry in an English translation The Paradise for Clouds was published in the UK in 2009.

He studied at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute and at the Novosibirsk State University,[6] where he received his specialist degree in physics in 1963 and his Candidate of Sciences degree in 1966, studying under Roald Sagdeev.

In 1974, Zakharov moved to the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Chernogolovka, where he eventually became director.