Karen Ter-Martirosian
Theoretical physics and the interactions of particles
Karen Ter-Martirosian was a theoretical physicist of Armenian descent, born in Tbilisi in 1922. His career encompassed quantum mechanics, field theory and elementary particles. He worked for many years at Moscow’s Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics.
His studies addressed three-body systems, nuclear excitation and particle scattering at high energies. These contributions helped develop theoretical descriptions of strong interactions.
Ter-Martirosian was also an influential teacher whose students included major physicists. He received the Pomeranchuk Prize in 1999. He died in 2005, leaving both a substantial body of research and a continuing school of theoretical physics.