YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS: President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan participated today in National Academy of Sciences in the awarding ceremony of Victor Ambartsumian International Prize.

Chairman of the National Academy of Sciences, Chairman of Viktor Ambartsumian International Prize Committee, academician Radik Martirosyan presented the prize-winning scientists - Felix Aharonyan, Igor Karachentsev and Brant Tali.

In his address the chairman of the International Prize Committee said that for the award 2014 the Committee received 7 nominations of prominent scientists and scientific groups from Russia (2 nominations), the USA, India, Ireland, Germany and Ukraine. The above mentioned scientists have been elected on the basis of study of the presented works and opinions of independent reviewers. 

President Serzh Sargsyan congratulated the prize-winning scientists and presented the awards.

Victor Ambartsumian was a Soviet Armenian scientist and one of the founders of theoretical astrophysics. 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. Ambartsumian founded the Byurakan Observatory in 1946. He was the second and longest-serving president of the Armenian Academy of Sciences (1947–93) and also served as the president of the International Astronomical Union from 1961 to 1964 and was twice elected the President of the International Council of Scientific Unions (1966–72). He was a foreign member of numerous academies, including the Royal Society,] the US National Academy of Sciences, 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,  Bruce Gold Medal, and National Hero of Armenia.