Mirzoyan, Khodjamirian Elected to Armenia’s National Academy of Science

YEREVAN—On Dec. 27, 2014, the National Academy of Science of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) held its General Meeting and elected two former scientists of the Yerevan Physics Institute (YerPhI), Razmik Mirzoyan (high energy astrophysics, Germany) and Alexander Khodjamiryan (theoretical physics, Germany), as foreign members.

Mirzoyan is a senior astrophysicist from the Max-Planck-Institute for Physics in Munich, Germany. He is the chairman of the MAGIC collaboration, operating one of the most successful facilities in gamma ray astronomy. After leaving YerPhI in the early 1990’s, Mirzoyan took a leading role in the design, construction, and operation of the six imaging telescopes of the HEGRA collaboration on the Canary Islands. Upon conclusion of the HEGRA experiment, he led the creation of the MAGIC Cherenkov radiation telescope system, also on the Canary Islands. Now, Mirzoyan is actively participating in the design of the Cherenkov Telescope Array project, the leading astrophysical project in Europe, as the head of the TAIGA experiment near Lake Baikal in Russia. This experiment will search for ultra-high gamma ray sources in the universe and measure other aspects of cosmic radiation. Mirzoyan visits Armenia often, delivering lectures to young scientists at YerPhI and consulting with experts from the Cosmic Ray Division (CRD) on various topics of particle experimental physics.

Khodjamiryan worked at the Theoretical Physics Division of the Yerevan Physics Institute from 1973-92, when he moved to Germany to continue his research in theoretical elementary particle physics. He worked at the Universities of Munich, Würzburg, and Karlsruhe. Since 2009, Khodjamiryan has been a professor at the University of Siegen. He maintains close scientific relations with Armenian physicists, especially with YerPhI colleagues. He has conducted a series of scientific seminars and lectures for Armenian scientists, and participated in various theoretical physics conferences in Armenia.