13 AMBARTSUMIAN 



Residence: Leninskiye gory, korp. "I" 



Moscow, USSR 

 Telephone: B9 18 80 



AMBARTSUMIAN, VIKTOR AMAZASPQV^ICH (Astrophysicist) 



V. A. Ambartsumian was born September 18, 1908 in Tbilisi 

 in the family of the distinguished Armenian philologist, writer 

 and teacher, A. A. Ambartsumian. Ambartsumian received his 

 secondary education at Tbilisi. He graduated in 1928 from 

 Leningrad University, having published, as a student, more 

 than ten papers on theoretical astrophysics and mathematics. 

 He pursued graduate studies at Pulkovo Observatory under the 

 Russian astrophysicist, A. A. Belopolskii (1854-1934). As a 

 graduate student, he published papers dealing with solar phy- 

 sics, the physics of the stellar atmospheres and gaseous nebu- 

 lae, and theoretical physics. He completed his graduate work 

 in 1931, served as docent at Leningrad University, and in 1934 

 became a professor. Ambartsumian established the chair of 

 Astrophysics at Leningrad University in 1934, and occupied it 

 until 1946. He became Director of the Leningrad University 

 Astronomical Observatory in 1938. He has been a pro-rector 

 of science at the Leningrad University. From 1943 to 1947 he 

 was Vice-President of the newly organized Academy of Sciences 

 of the Armenian S.S.R. He was head of the research branch of 

 the Leningrad University which was moved to Yelabuga during 

 World War II. Since 1944 he has served as the Director of 

 Yerevan Observatory. On his own initiative, he began and 

 supervised the planning and construction of Byurakan Observa- 

 tory in 1946, and became the Director. He has held the Chair 

 of Astrophysics at Yerevan State University since 1947. He 

 became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 

 in 1940. In 1947, he was elected President of the Academy of 

 Sciences of the Armenian S.S.R. From 1948 to 1955, he was 

 Vice President of the International Astronomical Union. He 

 was elected Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the 

 U. S.S.R. in 1953, having been a Corresponding Member since 

 1939. He is a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet, since 1950, a 

 member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of 

 Armenia, and President of the Armenian Society for the Propa- 

 gation of Scientific and Political Knowledge. He has frequently 

 participated in the work of international congresses, confer- 

 ences, and meetings, and is an honorary member of corre- 

 sponding member of academies of science and scientific socie- 

 ties of Austria, Britain, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, 



