Born Tbilisi, (Georgia), 18 September 1908
Died Byurakan, Armenia, 12 August 1996
Victor Ambartsumian formulated ideas pertinent to the structure and evolution of stars, of galaxies – especially active ones – and of the entire Universe. Some of these ideas, for instance the unboundedness of many star clusters and the need for star formation to be an ongoing process, have stood the test of time. Others have not.
Victor was the son of Amazasp Asaturovich Ambartsumian, a historian (and, later in life, professor at Yerevan University), and Ripsame Ambartsumian. He married Vera, the adopted daughter of Grigory Shain, the then director of the Crimean Observatory. Victor and Vera had two daughters and two sons.
Ambartsumian's elementary and secondary schooling took place in Tbilisi, Georgia. He graduated from the University of Leningrad, Russia in 1928. Ambartsumian was a staff member of the Pulkovo Observatory (near Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, Russia) from 1928 to 1931. In 1931 he...
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Selected References
Ambartsumian, Victor (1929). Zeitschrift für Physik 52: 263–267. (Ambartsumian's work on the eigenfunctions.)
——— (1932). “The Radiative Equilibrium of a Planetary Nebula.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 93: 50–61.
——— (1938). Communications of the University of Leningrad 22: 10. (Ambartsumian's work on double stars and the cosmological timescale.)
——— (1944). Communications of the Armenian Academy of Science 1: 9. (Ambartsumian's work on brightness fluctuations in the Milky Way.)
——— (1950). Communications of the Soviet Academy of Science 14: 15.
——— (1951). Communications of the Armenian Academy of Science 13: 129.
——— (1955). “Stellar Systems of Positive Total Energy.” Observatory 75: 72–78.
——— (1966). “Some Remarks on the Nature of the Nuclei in Galaxies.” In Proceedings of the Twelfth General Assembly, Hamburg, 1964, edited by J. C. Pecker, pp. 578–581. Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, Vol. 12B. London: Academic Press.
Ambartsumian, Victor and L. V. Mirzoian (1975). “Flare Stars in Star Clusters and Associations.” In Variable Stars and Stellar Evolution, edited by Vicki E. Sherwood and Lukas Plaut, pp. 3–14. IAU Symposium No. 67. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
Blaauw, Adriaan (1964). “The O Associations in the Solar Neighborhood.” Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 2: 213–246.
——— (1997). “In Memoriam: V. A. Ambartsumian.” Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy 18: 1–2.
Chandrasekhar, S. (1988). “To Victor Ambartsumian on His 80th Birthday.” Astrofizika 29: 7.
Eremeeva, A. I. (1995). “Political Repression and Personality: The History of Political Repression against Soviet Astronomers.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 26: 297–324.
Israelian, Garik (1997). “Victor Amazasp Ambartsumian, 1912–1996 (i.e. 1908).” Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society 29: 1466–1467.
Kolchinski, I. G., A. A. Korsum, and M. R. Rodriges (1966). Astronomers (in Russian). Kiev, pp. 15–17.
Lynden‐Bell, D. and V. Gurzadian (1997). “Victor Amazaspovich Ambartsumian 1908–1996.” Astronomy and Geophysics 38, no. 2: 37.
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Blaauw, A. (2007). Ambartsumian, Victor Amazaspovitch. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_43
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