ABSTRACT

Early Life Very few biographical details of Viktor A. Ambartsumian's childhood are known. He was born in 1908, in Tiflis, Russia (modern Tbilisi, U.S.S.R.), the son of a local teacher of literature. Early in school, he developed a passion for mathematics and physics and became extremely interested in the formation, evolution, and energy generation of stars and other heavenly bodies. Following his instincts, he went to the University of Leningrad, from which he was graduated in 1928 with high honors. He performed so well and so amazed his instructors that he was offered a position at the university, where he stayed to teach until 1944. In that year, he went to Yerevan, Soviet Armenia, to become the founder and director of the Byurakan Observatory and its subsequent permanent director.