ACADEMICIAN SERGEI MERGELIAN DIES
Noyan Tapan
Au g 22, 2008
YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Academy of Sciences
and the RA State Science Committee inform that the prominent scientist
and citizen, a classic of the Armenian science, Academician Sergei
Mergelian passed away at the age of 81.
Taking an external degree of Yerevan State University’s
Physico-Mathematical Department, the talented youth became actively
engaged in creative work at the age of 19 and soon occupied his place
in the constellation of distinguished modern mathematicians. Aged 21,
he became a Doctor of Sciences, at 25 he was elected a corresponding
member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Academy of
Sciences of the Armenian SSR, while at 28 he was elected an academician
of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR. In that period he
received a Stalin Award.
In the mid 1950s S. Mergelian performed a real feat by creating
a new scientific and technical direction in applied mathematics
and computer engineering of Armenia, which later brought great
fame to our country. Under his direction, the Yerevan Research
Institute of Mathematical Machines was founded, and later some
production enterprises were set up and the production of computers
launched. Thanks to the scientific and organizational talent of
Academician Mergelian, Armenia became one of the USSR’s major centers
in this field.
S. Mergelian’s services to the Academy of Sciences and Yerevan State
University (YSU) are of great value. He was the vice president of
the Academy of Sciences, the founder and first director of the Data
Center of the Academy of Sciences and YSU, and the head of a YSU chair.
S. Mergelian was also the founder and head of the Complex Analysis
Unit of the Institute of Mathematics after Steklov of the USSR Academy
of Sciences.
His contribution to the training of qualified personnel is invaluable.
His services were appreciated by the government of independent Armenia
as well: in 2008 he was awarded a Mesrop Mashtots order, the highest
award of the Republic of Armenia.
The death of Academician Sergei Mergelian is an irrecoverable loss
for the Armenian people, first of all, Armenia’s scientific community
and intellectuals.