Viktor Hambardzumyan
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BornSeptember 18, 1908(1908-09-18)
Tbilisi, Russian Empire
DiedAugust 12, 1996(1996-08-12) (aged 87)
Byurakan, Armenia
NationalitySoviet Armenia
Fieldstheoretical astrophysics

Viktor Hambardzumyan (Armenian: ?????? ?????????????, 18 September [O.S. 5 September] 1908, Tbilisi ? August 12, 1996, Byurakan, russified as Viktor Amazaspovich Ambartsumian) was a Soviet Armenian scientist, and one of the founders of theoretical astrophysics.[1] He worked in the field of physics of stars and nebulae, stellar astronomy, dynamics of stellar systems and cosmogony of stars and galaxies, contributed to Mathematical physics. Amabartsumian was the President of the International Astronomical Union from 1961 till 1964, was twice elected the President of the International Council of Scientific Unions (1966?1972), was a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and foreign member of the Royal Society,[2] the US National Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences. Among his numerous awards are Stalin Prize (1946,1950), Hero of Socialist Labor (1968,1978), State Prize of the Russian Federation, Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society,[3] Bruce Gold Medal[4] from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, National Hero of Armenia. Hambardzumyan was the founder of Byurakan Observatory.[5][6]
Contents

1 Biography

2 Scientific activity

2.1 Physics of stellar shells and gas nebulae

2.2 Dynamics and statistical mechanics of the stellar systems

2.3 The nature of the inter-stellar matter and theory of fluctuations

2.4 The theory of light diffusion in turbid medium

2.5 The stellar associations, evolution associations and the stars evolution

2.6 The physics of the young stars and the stellar energy sources

2.7 Extra-galaxy astronomy

2.8 Interesting facts

2.9 Quantization of space

2.10 Quantum field theory

2.11 Atomic nucleus

2.12 Inverse problems

2.13 Active galactic nucleus (AGN)


3 Pedagogical activity

4 Organization of science

5 Social and political activity

6 Honors

7 Hambardzumyans International Prize

7.1 General statements


8 References

9 Bibliography

10 External links


Biography

Hambardzumyan was born to an Armenian family in Tbilisi in 1908. His father was the philologist and writer Hamazasp Asaturovich Hambardzumyan, the translator of Homer’s Iliad into Armenian. In 1924 Victor entered the physico-mathematical department of Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute and then of Leningrad State University. As a student in 1926 he published his first scientific article, devoted to sun jets. Hambardzumyan continued his postgraduate studies at Pulkovo Observatory under the guidance of professor Aristarkh Belopolsky in 1928?1931.

His work first came to prominence in physics when in 1929 with Dmitry Ivanenko he published a paper demonstrating that atomic nuclei could not be made from protons and electrons. Three years later this was confirmed when Sir James Chadwick discovered neutrons, which with protons make up atomic nuclei.

In 1930 married Vera Feodorovna Klochihina (born at Lisva, Solikamsk uyezd, Perm). After three years of affiliation at Leningrad University in 1934 Hambardzumyan founded and headed the first astrophysics chair. In 1939?1941 Hambardzumyan was the director of the Leningrad University Observatory. In 1940 he joined the Communist Party

The War found him holding the position of the pro-rector of Leningrad State University. The scientific laboratories of the University were evacuated in 1941 to remote Elabuga (Tatarstan) where Hambardzumyan spent four years directing the work of the refugee laboratories. In 1939 Ambartsumian was elected a correspondent member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1953 he became a full academician of the Academy. In 1943, the heaviest period of the war, the Armenian Academy of Sciences was founded. Iosif Orbeli was appointed as the president and Hambardzumyan as the vice president of Armenian SSR Academy.