Anatoly Lesnikovich was born on 3 April 1941 at the state farm "Rachkovichi" (Slutsk district, Minsk region). He graduated from the Belarusian State University in 1965. He worked as an assistant, senior lecturer, associate professor of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry of the V.I.Lenin Belarusian State University in 1966-1978. He was a head of the laboratory at the Research Institute of the V.I.Lenin Belarusian State University in 1978-1990. In 1990-1996, Anatoly Lesnikovich worked as Vice-Rector for scientific work at the Belarusian State University. Anatoly Lesnikovich was First Deputy Chairman of the Higher Attestation Commission of Belarus in 1996-2000 and Chairman of the State Committee on Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus in 2000-2002. From 2002 to 2008 he worked as Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. From 2008 to 2017 Academician Lesnikovich headed the department at the Belarusian State University.
Anatoly Ivanovich Lesnikovich is a well-known scientist, contributed to the study of physical and chemical processes of thermal transformation and combustion, kinetics of chemical non-isothermal processes, synthesis of inorganic compounds and materials science. His research and developments are well known to specialists in the country and abroad. Academician Lesnikovich proposed the method for determining the kinetic characteristics that was further developed in the works of Austrian and French scientists. Besides, he discovered and studied the phenomenon of liquid flame combustion that has gained international fame. He substantiated chemical engineering as the science of chemical design of systems from nano- and micro-sized elements and developed a number of such systems.
Anatoly Ivanovich Lesnikovich is the author of about 400 scientific works, including 2 monographs, a textbook, and more than 60 inventions. In 2006 he was awarded the Medal of Francysk Skaryna medal.