Garik Israelian

Garik Israelian (Armenian: Գարիկ Իսրայելյան, born 1963 or 1968) is an Armenian-Spanish[2] astrophysicist and founder of the Starmus Festival. He and colleagues found the first observational evidence that supernova explosions are responsible for the formation of stellar-mass black holes.[3][4]

Garik Israelian
Born1963 (age 59–60) or 1968 (age 54–55)
Yerevan, Armenia
NationalityArmenian
Spanish
Alma materYerevan State University
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
AwardsVictor Ambartsumian International Prize (2010)
The Canary Islands Gold Medal (2014)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, astronomy, spectroscopy
InstitutionsInstituto de Astrofísica de Canarias[1]

Early life

Garik Israelian was born in Yerevan, Armenia[5] in 1963[6] or 1968.[5] He graduated from Yerevan State University in 1987 with a First Class Honors degree in Physics, and completed his PhD in 1992.[7]

Career

Since 1997, Israelian has worked at the Institute of Astrophysics, Canary Islands (IAC),[7] and has also worked as a lecturer and researcher at Utrecht University; Free University of Brussels; and University of Sydney.

Israelian has published over 500 articles.[2]

In 1999, he and colleagues found the first observational evidence, based on data from the W. M. Keck Observatory, that supernova explosions are responsible for the formation of black holes.[3][2]

In 2001, he proposed the so-called "Lithium-6 test" to determine if a star has engulfed a planet or other gaseous or solid matter.[8]

In 2009, he and colleagues discovered that stars with planets, such as the sun, tend to have much less lithium.[9]

Starsounds

In 2005, Garik Israelian compiled a library of acoustic sound waves produced within the bodies of stars.[10] This research project inspired Dr. Israelian to join forces with astrophysicist Brian May to create a new festival that would bring the stars together with music, and so Starmus was born. The main concept of the "Starsounds" project was explained in the lecture of Dr. Israelian "Our Acoustic Universe" and published in the book 50 Years of Man in Space (lectures of Starmus I, edited by Israelian and Brian May, 2014).

In 2013, Brian May and Tangerine Dream used "Starsounds" in their composition "Supernovae".[11][12]

In 2016, Brian Eno arranged some of Israelian's star recordings into a composition titled "Starsounds".[10]

Starmus Festival

In 2011, Garik Israelian founded the Starmus Festival, an event about astronomy and music.[13]

Awards

In 2010, Michel Mayor, Garik Israelian, and Nuno Santos were awarded the Viktor Ambartsumian International Prize "[f]or their important contribution in the study of relation between planetary systems and their host stars."[14]

In 2014, Israelian received The Canary Islands Gold Medal, awarded by the government of the Canary Islands.[5]

On 20 June 2016, the International Astronomical Union and the Minor Planet Center officially renamed asteroid (21057) 1991 GJ8 to Garik Israelian in honor of Israelian.[15] The citation was written by astronomer Joel Parker and Queen guitarist Brian May, and presented by them at the Starmus Festival.

References
  1. List of Personnel, IAS. Accessed 11 December 2022.
  2. Green, Anna (29 October 2020). "Astrophysicist Garik Israelian on Starmus, the Music of Stars and Gravitational Waves". EVN Report. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  3. Israelian, G.; Rebolo, R.; Basri, G.; Casares, J.; Martin, E. L. (1999). "Evidence of a supernova origin for the black hole in the system GRO J1655 - 40". Nature. 401 (6749): 142–144. Bibcode:1999Natur.401..142I. doi:10.1038/43625. S2CID 4403901.
  4. Cowan, John (9 September 1999). "Supernova Birth for a Black Hole". Nature. 401 (6479): 124–125. doi:10.1038/43586. S2CID 4382370.
  5. "La Medalla de Oro de Canarias a Dr.Garik Israelian" [Canary Islands Gold Medal is awarded to Mr. Garik Israelian] (in Spanish). 26 May 2014. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015.
  6. "Citation for (21057)". cgi.minorplanetcenter.net. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  7. Dr. Garik Israelian (bio), Future Innovation Summit. Access 11 December 2022
  8. Israelian, G.; Santos, N.; Mayor, M.; Rebolo, R. (2001). "Evidence for planet engulfment by the star HD82943". Nature. 411 (6834): 163–166. doi:10.1038/35075512. PMID 11346786. S2CID 2893939.
  9. Thompson, Andrea (11 November 2009). "60-Year-Old Solar Mystery Finally Explained". space.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012.
  10. Robitzski, Dan (24 June 2020). "This Music Made by Stars is Actually Extremely Beautiful". Futurism.com.
  11. GRM (10 July 2013). "Tangerine Dream & Brian May: Starmus – Sonic Universe". Prog Magazine.
  12. "Tangerine Dream And Brian May – Starmus - Sonic Universe (2013, CD) - Discogs". Discogs. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  13. Anthony, Andrew (17 July 2016). "Starmus festival: enough brains and Brians to fill the multiverse". The Guardian.
  14. "Viktor Ambartsumian International Prize". vaprize.sci.am. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019.
  15. Starmus Festival [@StarmusFestival] (8 July 2016). "Honored to announce that an asteroid has been named after Garik Israelian, founder of #Starmus. Congratulations!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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