Karen Avetovich Ter-Martirosyan (28 September 1922 - 19 November 2005) was a Russian theoretical physics

Theoretical physics

Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...

 scientist of Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 origin, known for his contributions to quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...

 and quantum field theory

Quantum field theory

Quantum field theory provides a theoretical framework for constructing quantum mechanical models of systems classically parametrized by an infinite number of dynamical degrees of freedom, that is, fields and many-body systems. It is the natural and quantitative language of particle physics and...

 and the author of several hundred articles in his area.

He was born in Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

 and graduated from Tbilisi State University

Tbilisi State University

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University , better known as Tbilisi State University , is a university established on 8 February 1918 in Tbilisi, Georgia. TSU is the oldest university in the whole Caucasus region...

 in 1943. After two years of teaching physics at the Tbilisi Railroad Institute, he did a Ph.D. at the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute in St. Petersburg, advised by Yakov Frenkel

Yakov Frenkel

Yakov Il'ich Frenkel, was a Soviet physicist renowned for his works in the field of solid-state physics. He is also known as Jacov Frenkel....

. After working at the theory division the same place (1949–55) he moved to Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics

Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics

The Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics is located in Moscow, Russia as a MinAtom physical institute....

 in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, where he founded the Elementary Particle Physics chair of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Laboratory of Hadron Physics.

He was a student of Lev Landau

Lev Landau

Lev Davidovich Landau was a prominent Soviet physicist who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics...

 and his research colleague Isaak Pomeranchuk

Isaak Pomeranchuk

Isaak Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk was a Soviet physicist, who was the founder and first head of the theory division at ITEP. The particle pomeron is named in his honour. For his work, Pomeranchuk was twice awarded Stalin Prize .-External links:**...

.
Among his students were Vladimir Gribov

Vladimir Gribov

Vladimir Naumovich Gribov was a prominent Russian theoretical physicist, who worked on high-energy physics, quantum field theory and the Regge theory of the strong interactions.His best known contributions are the pomeron, the DGLAP equations, and the Gribov copies.-Life:Gribov completed his...

, Alexey Andreevich Anselm, Alexander Polyakov, Arkady Migdal, Alexander Zamolodchikov

Alexander Zamolodchikov

Alexander Borissowitsch Zamolodchikov is a Russian physicist, known for his contributions to condensed matter physics and string theory.Born near Dubna,...

, Alexey Kaidalov. Also, he organized schools and conferences in Nor-Hamberd of Yerevan

Yerevan

Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...

 in Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

.

Publications

• Theory of Gauge Interactions of Elementary Particles (1984). Book, with Misha Voloshin
• Theory of Coulomb excitation of nuclei (1952)
• Theory of three body systems (1956)
• Development of the Regge pole theory for high energy scattering and theory of Regge cuts, with V.N.Gribov and I.Ya.Pomeranchuk, 1964–1976
• QCD inspired model of quark-gluon strings, with A.B.Kaidalov