Astronomy Day in Armenia

Astronomy DayOn January 8, 2009, at a meeting of the Armenian government, it was decided to declare September 18 as “Astronomy Day”.

The date was not chosen by chance. It was on this day, in 1908, that Academician Viktor Ambartsumyan was born - an outstanding Armenian scientist, founder of theoretical astrophysics, National Hero of Armenia.

Academician Victor Ambartsumyan (1908-1996)

Twice the hero of Socialist Labor, twice the winner of the Stalin Prize and the State Prize of the Russian Federation, Viktor Ambartsumyan worked in the field of star and nebula physics, stellar astronomy and dynamics of star systems, cosmogony of stars and galaxies. Among his many scientific achievements are the theory of light scattering in turbid environments, stellar associations and stellar evolution, star-shell physics, and extragalactic astronomy.

The name of Academician Ambartsumyan is the minor planet, as well as the Byurakan Observatory in Armenia, the founder of which was the great scientist. Viktor Ambartsumyan died in August 1996 and is buried in Byurakan, near the Large Telescope Tower.