Armenian Biographies

[Guest]

I'd like to start a new thread with short biographies of Armenians that everyone should be familiar with. I'll start with William Saroyan and Monte Melkonian. I like the contrast, plus I have books by both handy.

 

Please contribute. Obviously, we need St. Gregory, St. Mesrob, Sayat Nova, Gomidas, Soghomon Tehlirian, Tigran The Great and many others I no longer want to be ignorant about.

[Guest]

WILLIAM SAROYAN (1908-1981)

 

Born in Fresno, California, USA. Self-taught writer who first became popular in 1934 with "The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze". Most well known for My Name Is Aram. Won both a Pulitzer Prize (which he turned down for artistic reasons) and an Academy Award.

[Guest]

I went to the english library today where I live in england, and surprise surprise they had no armenian author on the shalf, and surprise surprise, the librarian looked puzzled when I said william SAROYAN, and surprise surprise, I need to order all my Hye CD's online cause I can find them in the our price! (At least I get them delivered to my gaff) This situation is all OVER the shop!

 

Anyway: go to www.cillicia.com (if wrong it'd www.cilicia.com Some of you may already be familiar with this site, and those who arent can surf it and make good headway. In particular, go the HALL of Fame. It's very good.

[Guest]

MONTE MELKONIAN(1957-1993)

 

Born in Fresno, California, USA. Well educated, third generation Armenian-American who left the US at age 20 to pursue leftist movements. In 1978, he defended Armenians in Beirut against rightist attacks. In 1980, he was inducted into ASALA. Arrested in Paris in 1985 and released in 1989, he then focused his efforts to Karabagh. He was a victorious commander known for his humanitarian treatment of civilians. He died in battle in 1993. Frequently referred to as "Avo"--his nom de guerre in Karabagh.

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kazza:
In particular, go the HALL of Fame. It's very good.

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At first I thought this new thread might be a waste of time, but that site focuses on entertainers and personalities. Phew!

[Guest]

Dear Pilafhead,

 

You just have killed me! They are thousands and thousands! Sometimes I wish we had shorter history. This thread requires full time job! He-He

Anyway I'll make my contributions later.

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Pilafhead:
At first I thought this new thread might be a waste of time, but that site focuses on entertainers and personalities. Phew!

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Oh sorreee! There are ALL sorts on that site, peronsalities, businessmen, artists, musicians, AND writers! It is a good START.

[Guest]

Mike,

 

Shame on you. How can you call Tigran the Great Armenian. He was not even Christian.

 

You know I am kidding, right?

[Guest]

Originally posted by Pilafhead:

MONTE MELKONIAN(1957-1993)

 

Born in Fresno, California, USA.

 

Actually I think Monte was born in Visalia CA

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve:

Actually I think Monte was born in Visalia CA

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Thanks for the correction. Visalia's a nicer place, too. Richard Hagopian's Delicatessen is there. Great Oud and Great Food.

[Guest]

You can count on me for Sayat Nova's bio...

 

still to come...

[Guest]

Alright, a promise is a promise...so here we go...

 

(my source: vol. 3 of Leo, aka Arakel Babaxanyan, "Armenian History" in 10 volumes)

 

Sayat Nova:

 

Born in Tbilisi (or Tiflis, depends on your pronunciation), in the first quarter of 18th century (exact date of birth not known). His father's originally from Syria (Halep), his mother's a Tbilisi native. His real name was Harutyun. As a child, he was taught the basics of Georgian and Armenian, but was more proficient in Georgian than in Armenian. By trade, he's a rug/tapestry/cloth weaver. however, his passion for poetry and song led him to study and perfect playing several musical instruments; his favorite, "kamancha" (I asked my mom what that was, hoping for a description or a translation, and she says "sayat nova's instrument"...so I suppose that's how it's known anyhow, no need for a translation). He quickly became known as a good musician and entertainer among the upper crust/nobility of Tbilisi and soon thereafter left his trade and devoted himself solely to his passion. Now known as Sayat Nova, he sung in many languages, including Georgian, Turkish, Persian and wrote his first song in Armenian in 1752 (by the way, he kept a notebook of sorts with all of his compositions). Dozens of songs in Armenian written thereafter endeared him to the armenian community in Tbilisi. A few words about Tbilisi. It was known at the time as a wealthy city,(the capital of Georgia), home to the Georgian nobility and the court. It was a city known for its beautiful women, a city of passion and creativity, where Georgians and Armenians lived as brothers, Leo says, the Georgians as prominent leaders, warriors, etc and the Armenians as prominent tradesmen, businessmen, patrons of art and culture; both the Georgians and the Armenians known for their love of good food, women,and entertainment. Sayat Nova was born at the junction of all things Georgian and all things Armenian. He's a product of the best of both worlds.

 

At some point in time he had gotten married and had children. After his wife's death, he commited himself to a monastery (called Haxbat). Little is known about this phase of his life, but we do know that he finally fled the walls of this "tomb" where the public felt he had buried himself alive. They finally found him under a bridge in Tbilisi, on the river Kur (not sure of the english pronunciation or spelling), in a contest with another minstrel (these were popular at the time).

 

He returned to the monastery, to come out again in 1795 in order to rescue his children (2 girls, 2 boys) from the impending conquest of Tbilisi by Axa Mamad. He sent the kids out of town, but he himself was unable to flee and witnessed the destruction of Tbilisi by the invading persians. As the story goes, Sayat Nova was in church, praying, when the persian troops burst into the church and demanded the religious conversion of everyone there, including Sayat. It's said that Sayat Nova remarked defiantly, "I won't leave the church, I won't turn my back on Jesus". He was killed instanteniously. The Georgians later found his body and gave it a Christian burial on the grounds of St. Gregory's Church in Tbilisi.

 

So ends the life of a talented poet and musician, known as a wandering troubadour ("ashough" or "ashoux" in armenian). Admired by Armenians and Georgians alike through the ages, he's the pride of Armenians, an unparalleled talent. His songs of love, to me, have yet to meet their match. Although my source says little about this, I think I should add that Sayat Nova found his inspiration, his muse in love and in women (my father says he was quite the ladies' man). Armenians have had a few notable ashoughs (troubadours/minstrels), but none like Saya Nova.

[Guest]

Thank you very much for this I thiought it was really nice and interesting, and informaitve If anyone else has stories like this, please keep it up!

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Gayane:

his passion for poetry and song led him to study and perfect playing several musical instruments; his favorite, "kamancha"

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It's a three or four stringed spike fiddle.


Thanks so much for the post. In terms of Armenian music is it Sayat Nova, Gomidas and then "the rest of them"? Are there any others close in terms of importance? Besides Edward Boghosian who wrote "Soode, Soode" (my favorite).

BTW, you forgot to mention the wonderful restaurant named after him on Colorado Blvd. Does that place have any windows???

[Guest]

Mike,

 

Makar Ekmalyan is another one. Basically the whole, or at least the majority of the Aremenian spiritual music is due to him.

 

Obviously Aram Khachaturyan is another titan of Armenian music. There are many others worth mentioning and listening, too.

 

The Armenian musical soil has been very fertile in the 20th Century.

 

I just gave you the titans.

[Guest]

DO YOU KNOW...?

 

That there were 20 emperors of armenian origin

Here they are:

1. Morick Oshakanatsi (Mavrikiy) 582-602.

2. Vardan Pikick 711-713.

3. Artavazd - 742-743.

4. Levon (Lion the V) Artsruni - 813-830.

5. Barseg Arsha - kuni (Vasil the I - the founder of armenian Makedonian dinasty) - 867-886.

6. Levon Arshakuni (Lion the VI, philosopher) 886-912.

7. Alexander 912-913.

8. Kons tandin the VII Bagrianorodny 913-959.

9. Romanos Vashtakian (Roman the I) 919-949. Ruled with Konstandin the VII Bagrianororodny).

10. Romanos the II - 959-963.

11. Nikiphor the II Phoka (the Great) - 963-969.

12. Hovanes Chimishk (Ioan Tsimiskhy) 969-976.

13. Vasily the II Bulgaroboyts 976-1025.

14. Konstandin the VIII - 1025-1028.

15. Roman the III 1028-1034.

16. Mikhael Paflagon (Mikhael the IV) - 1034 1041.

17. Mikhael Kalapat (Mikhael the V) - 1041-1042.

18. Konstandin the IX Monomakh - 1042-1054.

19. Teodora the II (Phedora the II) empress - 1054-1056.

20. Mikhael Stratiotik (Mikhael the II) - 1056-1057.

The reference page is "My Armenia". Info about this is also available on ARMINCO.com

 

PS: IV-VI Androniks were also partly Armenian

 

BE PROUD HYE JOGHOVURT!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by gamavor (edited October 30, 2000).]

[Guest]

Artem Alikhanian

1908 - 1978

 

 

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Artem Alikhanian, one of the founders and first director of the Yerevan Physics Institute, was born on June 24, 1908. In 1931 he has graduated from Leningrad State University (Physics). In 1930 he became a staff-member at Leningrad Physical and Technical Institute working on radioactivity and nuclei research together with his brother A. Alikhanov. For these investigations both brothers were awarded the USSR State Prize. In 1942 two brothers initiated a scientific mission on Mt.Aragats in order to search for the third (proton) component of cosmic rays. Together with T. Asatiani A. Alikhanian found so called narrow showers in cosmic rays, established the first evidence of the existence in cosmic rays of the particles with masses between that of muon and proton. In 1948 A. Alikhanov and A. Alikhanian were awarded the USSR State Prize for the investigation of cosmic rays. The foundation of cosmic ray station on Mt.Aragats at 3250 m above sea level was one of the steps aimed on the development of nuclear and particle physics in Armenia. This station remains the main national cosmic ray centre until now. In 1943 two brothers participated in the foundation of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, established in the frames of the Academy the Yerevan Physics Institute. A. Alikhanian became its Director for the next 30 years. In 1956 A. Alikhanian (together with A. Alikhanov and V. Hambartsumian) initiated the creation of the Yerevan Synchrotron with 6 GeV energy of electrons and headed the design and construction of this machine, that was accomplished in 1967. The results obtained later on at Yerevan synchrotron on meson photoproduction by unique beam of polarized gamma-quanta, investigations on transition and channeling radiations are well-known among the scientific community. A.Alikhanian paid much attention to the development of the new experimental methods. For the works on wide-gap track spark chambers in 1970 A.Alikhanian (together with the colleagues from Yerevan, Moscow and Tbilisi) was awarded the Lenin Prize. Later he initiated the works on x-ray transition radiation detectors, based on the theoretical predictions made at YerPhI and experiments carried out at Yerevan synchrotron. The detectors of such type were widely used in accelerator and cosmic ray experiments at many centres worldwide. A.Alikhanian supported also applied research using the beams from Yerevan synchrotron, mainly on solid state physics and biophysics. After all he was an outstanding personality with very many friends in the artistic world.

 

 

http://www.yerphi.am/ http://crdlx5.yerphi.am/

 

[This message has been edited by MJ (edited January 21, 2001).]

[Guest]

Victor Amazasp Ambartsumian was born in September 18, 1908, in Tbilisi. After the graduation of the Leningrad (Saint-Petersburg) University and post- graduate studentship in Pulkovo Observatory, he founded in the University the first department of astrophysics in the Soviet Union.

 

In 1943 V.A.Ambartsumian was one of the founding members of the Armenian Academy of Sciences and its vice-president. Soon, in 1947, he became the president of the Academy, and since 1993 he was its honorary president.

 

In 1946 the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia was founded. Since the first days till 1988 V.A.Ambartsumian was the director and scientific leader of the Byurakan Observatory. And since 1988 he was its honorary director. Thanks to Ambartsumian's and his colleagues' works it became one of the known observatories in the world.

Ambartsumian's works are distinguished in perfection and almost every time opened new directions in astrophysics. His works on physics of gaseous nebulae and radiation transfer theory are classic. They played important role in this field, in particular, in the theory of multiple light scattering. The invariance principle, formulated in these works for the first time, had a wide application in a number of other fields of the science.

 

Ambartsumian's investigations on the problem of stellar evolution brought in 1947 to revealing of stellar systems of new type - stellar associations. The existence of stellar associations in the Galaxy, dynamically non-stable and disintegrating systems, was the first observational evidence in favor of continuing at present star-formation in it. Ambartsumian put forward a hypothesis about the joint origin of the diffuse matter and stars of dense matter of unknown nature - protostars.

Ambartsumian's studies of early stages of evolution of stars and stellar systems are rather significant. It was shown, that in the early stages of the evolution, the instability of state reveals itself, being the regular phase of the cosmogonic processes. Among these results the conclusions about the existence of stellar systems of positive total energy in the Galaxy, non-thermal nature of ultraviolet stellar radiation of T Tauri type and flare stars, are to be mentioned.

New principle results were achieved by V.A.Ambartsumian in study of evolution of galaxies. It was shown for the first time, that the central regions of galaxies - their nuclei, play decisive role in the phenomena of instability, observed in galaxies. Besides the stars and diffuse matter they must contain dense massive bodies of unknown nature. The activity of galactic nuclei defines their evolution. At present the active galactic nuclei (AGN) are the most intensively studied objects in extragalactic astronomy.

 

Ambartsumian has carried out some other investigations of great importance in astrophysics as well, such as the study of interstellar absorbing matter in the Galaxy (the idea of its ragged structure, the theory of fluctuations of light of the Milky Way), works on stellar dynamics (establishing of the base of new, statistical mechanics of stellar systems), statistical investigations of flare stars, and others.

 

Ambartsumian was an outstanding organizer of science, who significantly promoted the international scientific cooperation. In 1948-1955 he was the vice-president, and in 1961-64 - the president of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), in 1968 and 1970 he was elected twice the president of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU).

 

His many-sided activity accepted high estimate. He was awarded governmental prizes, orders and medals of a number of countries (Twice Hero of Socialist Labor in 1968 and 1978, USSR State Prizes in 1946 and 1950, Russian State Prize in 1995, National Hero of Armenia in 1994), gold medals of a number of academies and scientific societies.

 

He was elected honorary and foreign member of 28 Academies of Sciences, including USA, UK, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Czechoslovakia, India, Argentina, and other National Academies, honorary member of scientific societies of many countries, honorary doctor of the Universities of Canberra (Australia), La Plata (Argentina), Warsaw and Torun (Poland), Praha (Czechoslovakia), Liege (Belgium) and Sorbonne (France).

V.A.Ambartsumian has published about 20 books and booklets, more than 200 scientific papers, numerous popular articles.

 

Victor A. Ambartsumian passed away in August 12, 1996 in Byurakan. He will remain forever as one of the most outstanding scientists of the XX century.

http://bao.sci.am/

[MosJan]

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