Benjamin Markarian
From the Byurakan sky survey to active galaxies
Benjamin Markarian was an Armenian astronomer born in Shulaver in 1913. He graduated from Yerevan State University in 1938. From the founding period of Byurakan Observatory, he helped develop its observational research and scientific instruments.
He studied star clusters, stellar associations and galaxies. The First Byurakan Survey, conducted from 1965, sought extragalactic objects with an excess of ultraviolet radiation. Galaxies identified through this work became known as Markarian galaxies.
Their subsequent investigation supplied important evidence about active galactic nuclei and intense star formation. Markarian died in 1985, but his colleagues continued processing the observations and publishing catalogues. His legacy survives in the Byurakan survey material and the research it continues to support at observatories around the world.