Aram Nalbandyan
Understanding the chains behind chemical reactions
Aram Nalbandyan was an Armenian physical chemist born in Gharakilisa, now Vanadzor, in 1908. He graduated from Yerevan State University in 1930 and continued his scientific career at the Institute of Chemical Physics, combining experimental investigation with theoretical analysis.
His main research concerned the mechanisms and rates of oxidation reactions. He studied chain reactions, free radicals and interactions between gases and surfaces. These studies helped explain chemical transformations and their potential applications in the production of useful materials.
The chemical physics laboratory established in Yerevan on his initiative became an institute in 1975. Nalbandyan directed it until his death in 1987. The institution bearing his name and the generations of specialists he trained preserve a scientific tradition rooted in careful experiments and the study of reaction mechanisms.