Armenian contribution to the world: inventions and discoveries

[Arsen_]

Aleksandr Kemurdzhian - creator of the first ever lunar rover "Луноход-1"

Aleksandr Kemurdzhian, an Armenian mechanical engineer. Kemurdzhian authored 200 scientific publications and patented 50 inventions.

Aleksandr Kemurdzhian created the first ever lunar rover Lunokhod-1 ("Луноход-1").

Lunokhod-1 was carried to the moon by Luna 17, which was launched on November 10, 1970 and landed on the moon on November 17, 1970. It was the "first successful rover to operate beyond Earth" and the "first self-propelled, crewless vehicle to operate on the moon." It weighted 756 kg and was 4.42 m long and 1.92 m high. It carried cameras, transmitters and scientific instruments. The remote-controlled robot traveled some 10.54 km in 10 months and sent back some 20,000 photos and 200 panoramas. It also completed over 500 lunar soil tests.

[Arsen_]

Bagrat Ionnisyan - Armenian designer who created the world's largest telescope in 1975

Bagrat Ionnisyan, chief designer of the largest at that time in the world Large Azimuth Telescope (Большого азимутального телескопа БТА) called the "Eye of the Planet" and started working in 1975 (remained the largest on the planet until 1993, and is currently the largest in Eurasia).

Large Azimuth Telescope created by Ionnisyan was the latest astronomical technique for its time, containing many revolutionary solutions. Since then, the mounting of all the world's largest telescopes has been carried out according to the alt-azimuthal scheme proposed by Ioannisyan.

Bagrat Ionnisyan is also the author of a number of new original designs of astronomical instruments. He created the ASI-1 nebular spectrograph (1949), the ASI-2 meniscus telescope with a diameter of 500 mm (1950), a series of original, albeit small in size instruments (ASI-4 specular-lens camera, a reflective telescope with ASI-5 gapless quartz spectrograph, the gapless meniscus diffraction-lens spectrograph AS-31), as well as one of the largest meniscus telescopes AS-32 in the world with an automatic control system (700 mm inlet opening, main mirror diameter 975 mm) installed at the Abastuman Observatory . According to his project, the ZTSh reflector with a 2.6 m diameter mirror, one of the largest reflectors in Europe, installed at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in 1961.

[Arsen_]

Alexander Garsoev - Chief Submariner of the USSR, the first designer and architect of Soviet submarines

Alexander Garsoev (Garsoyan) - naval combat officer, was a submarine commander and participated in military campaigns in the Baltic during the First World War.

After war Garsoev became the Chief underwater specialist of the Headquarters of the Naval Forces, professor and head of department of the Naval Academy, specialist in the field of submarine tactics, creator of the first submarines of the Red Army Naval Forces.

Garsoev became a creator of the classification of submarines. He was the Head of the scientific and technical commission of the Navy of the Red Army. Head of the Department of material and military equipment of the Russian fleet. Inspector of the material part of the Black and Azov Sea Fleets. Professor. Head of the scuba diving department. Chief designer of submarines. Engineer.

[Arsen_]

Samvel Kocharyants, outstanding designer and developer of atomic and thermonuclear warheads and weapons

Samvel Kocharyants, outstanding Armenian designer and developer of the first Soviet atomic and thermonuclear warheads and weapons.

In September 1947, he began working in the secret KB-11 (Arzamas-16) as the head of the scientific-design sector of automation systems, then the head of the department. For the development of systems for initiating a charge of explosives and the design of automatic ignition systems for the first Soviet atomic bomb, Kocharyants was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1949 and the Order of Lenin, and in 1951 he was again awarded the Stalin Prize. In 1952, as a result of the reorganization of KB-11, an automation department was set up as an independent structure, which was headed by Kocharyants.

In August 1953, after successful testing of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb, Kocharyants, along with three other members of the group, became a laureate of the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree and was awarded the second Order of Lenin.

In 1959, the second design bureau of VNIIEF was created and Kocharyants was appointed chief designer in it. Kocharyants created his own school, expanded the functions of the design bureau he leads, in which he opened departments of aeroballistics, mechanics and micromechanics, optics and optical fiber, and created a new KB-3 based on KB-2.

For the development of warheads of ballistic missiles in 1962, Kocharyants was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

In 1984, for the second time, Kocharyants was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for the development of rocket-propelled warheads of ICBMs.

The overall list of Kocharyants' awards is quite impressive.

Twice Hero of Socialist Labor
Six Orders of Lenin
Order of the October Revolution
Lenin Prize
Three Stalin Prizes
USSR State Prize

[Daco Celtic]

https://sites.google.com/site/sehall...gineering/john

John K. Minasian. Engineer on the Seattle Space Needle

[Annihilus]

Most of them are diaspora?

[Arsen_]

Most of them are diaspora?

Most of them were either born in Armenia or were emigrants in the first or second generation, definitely not very old diaspora. In addition, in the Soviet Union it was their country.

[Tauromachos]

I don't know of particular examples right now that come to my mind

I'm very sure that Armenians contributed alot to the high esteammed Meat dishes of Turkish
and Ottoman cuisine(and also to their pastry and salads) like the various types
of Kebabs.

Then there is a famous Armenian Chess Grandmaster i remember his name was Tigrin Petrosyan

Then in sports i think Armenians contributed alot in wrestling

This thread focuses mainly on scientists and inventors.

But if we talk about general contributions there is lot more i think

I would expect alot Armenian contributors in arts but i don't have names in my mind
right now

There is certainly much more to mention but there has been so many things and contributers that we can't know about them all.

I'm impressed to hear and learn about people in this thread i have never heard before and who did interesting contributions i didn't knew about before

[Arsen_]

Avedis Zildjian - creator of musical cymbals in 1618 that got his name "Zildjian cymbals"

The first Zildjian cymbals were created in 1618 by Avedis Zildjian, an Armenian alchemist who was looking for a way to turn base metal into gold.

Nowadays The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian is an Armenian-American musical instrument manufacturer and the largest cymbal and drumstick maker in the world - the oldest family firm in the US. The company was founded in Constantinople by Avedis Zildjian in 1623, and is now based in Norwell, Massachusetts. Zildjian is one of the oldest manufacturers of musical instruments in the world.

[Arsen_]

Semyon Kirlian - inventor of new type of photography that got his name "Kirlian photography"

Semyon Kirlian, an Armenian inventor and researcher who along with his wife discovered and developed Kirlian photography.

Semyon Kirlian developed and perfected apparatus for what we now call Kirlian photography. He employed a high-frequency oscillator or spark generator that operated at 75 to 200 kHz. He developed a new method of photographing objects of various nature by means of a gas discharge, which made it possible to observe the fact of the emission of light by atoms or molecules. Currently, this method has become the basis of a new type of photography, which is now commonly called gas discharge, and the name itself has been assigned the name “gas discharge photography by the Kirlian method” or abbreviated “Kirlianography” or “Kirlian effect”.

Nowadays, there are many ways to apply the Kirlian effect, mainly in biology, botany and medicine. The method is also used in technology, in particular as a non-destructive testing method, a method for high-frequency recording of air shells in a solid material, a defectometry method in a high-frequency electric field, a device for visualizing a magnetic relief on the surface of an object, etc., etc.