Viktor Hambardzumyan (18 September [O.S. 5 September] 1908, Tbilisi – August 12, 1996, Byurakan) 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. Amabartsumian was the President of the International Astronomical Union from 1961 till 1964, was twice elected the President of the International Council of Scientific Unions (1966–1972), was a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and foreign member of the Royal Society, the US National Academy 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 from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, National Hero of Armenia. Hambardzumyan was the founder of Byurakan Observatory.

 

Prof. Hambardzumyan was elected an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada on 1959-06-22.