History
The Institute was founded because of the scientific missions of brothers Abraham Alikhanov and Artem Alikhanian to Mt. Aragats, the highest peak in modern Armenia. The aim of these expeditions was to study cosmic rays. Proton and neutron components as well as narrow air showers were discovered during these investigations. The Alikhanov - Alikhanian mass spectrometer was developed here and became the prototype for hodoscopic devices that have played a major role in nuclear physics research. The search for new particles resulted in discovery of existence of rather energetic particles as a component of cosmic rays (USSR license for discovery N 384). In 1963 the Institute was transferred to the USSR State Committee on Atomic Energy. The construction of an electron accelerator accomplished in 1967 became an important landmark in the history of the YerPhI.
In 1970 a group from YerPhi was awarded the Lenin Prize for the development of track spark chambers.
Read more about this topic: Yerevan Physics Institute
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There is a constant in the average American imagination and taste, for which the past must be preserved and celebrated in full-scale authentic copy; a philosophy of immortality as duplication. It dominates the relation with the self, with the past, not infrequently with the present, always with History and, even, with the European tradition.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)