Viktor Hampartsoumyan – The Man With His Heart In Our Mountains and His Eyes Fixed On The Stars

The lecture starts with an introduction by Chahe Tanachian, the director of the program, where he presents the current sad situation of the Pyuragan Observatory which has been unable for several years to pay the membership fee to the International Astronomical Society whose president has been Viktor Hampartsoumyan for many years. I am glad to report that an important sum has been raised at the end of the lecture towards that goal. Anyone interested in contributing to this cause can write to Chahe at [email protected].

While the main language of the lecture is Western Armenian, I felt the need to give the first section in a bilingual fashion, alternating with English. I chose to do this because I was explaining difficult concepts in mathematics and physics in Armenian with mostly new terminology that was distributed as a glossary to the attendees; yet those same notions might become more familiar if I explained them in English.

During the last part of the lecture, when I was discussing how Viktor Hampartsoumyan’s dream could become an inspiration to launch an international Armenian astronaut project, I am grateful to Sako Mekhgeavakian, an observant and regularly-attending student of the Armenian Studies classes, for pointing out that we already had one, in the person of James Bagian. While I knew of him, I had not realized that he had actually flown into space; I thought that he was recruited, but like many that do get recruited, he stayed in other important ground roles. It turns out that James Bagian has flown to space twice once in 1989 and a second time in 1991. I therefore acknowledge my error. I have since done my homework. Dr. Bagian’s NASA bio can be found here. He currently heads the National Center for Patient Safety of the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs. However, my recommendations at the end of the lecture still remain valid.