Levon Chailakhyan
From cellular communication to living systems
Levon Chailakhyan was a biophysicist of Armenian descent, born in Yerevan in 1928. His research focused on the electrical properties of living cells and the ways they interact.
He investigated the spread of excitation through nervous and cardiac tissues, bringing biological experiments together with physical and mathematical approaches. With colleagues, he also studied embryo reconstruction and cellular technologies in the context of cloning research.
Chailakhyan led the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics in Pushchino and established a scientific school. He died in 2009. His career demonstrates how methods from several disciplines can illuminate the organization of living systems.