UNESCO this year awarded the Mendeleev International Prize to Russian-based Armenian physicist Yuri Hovhannisyan. The scientist received the prize for discoveries expanding the boundaries of the periodic table and for his significant contribution to the development of fundamental sciences.
Hovhannisyan was born in Russia in 1933. He is an academician of the National Academy of Sciences and the author of a number of inventions. His worldwide recognition was further strengthened in 2016, when the 118th element in the Mendeleev periodic table was named in his honor, Oganesson.
“Throughout history, there have been two opportunities to speak with a living person after whom a chemical element in the periodic table is named. The first was the author of the Seaborgium element, the famous American scientist Glenn Seaborg, whose element is the 106th in the table. The second is me, as the last, 118th element in the table is currently associated with my name.”
Oganesson, the author of the superheavy element, is also a foreign member of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences. Although he rarely visits the homeland, through his work he tries to inspire and serve as an example to Armenian scientists as well.
“There are many talented people in Armenia; our urgent task should be to keep them here. They can leave, for example, to the States, but no one will hire them there in national laboratories, that’s how it is. They need their own people. We too must create our own group, without delay. We must accelerate, also considering my age.”
The 88-year-old scientist, although he has devoted nearly seven decades of his life to science, is not satisfied with what he has achieved. In his interviews, he assures that he is ready for new discoveries, but what they will be, he does not reveal.
“What the next discoveries will be, no one will ever tell you. Because any next step can completely change all perceptions about the future. Such is the power of science.”
The scientist will receive the Mendeleev International Prize on November 15, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
