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:
“The History of the world is not the theatre of happiness. Periods of happiness are blank pages in it, for they are periods of harmony—periods when the antithesis is in abeyance.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Tell me of the height of the mountains of the moon, or of the diameter of space, and I may believe you, but of the secret history of the Almighty, and I shall pronounce thee mad.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)