Armenian scientist who revealed nature's language to the world began his journey at YSU

Nature as a source of inspiration, a force that ennobles people, a path to spiritual harmony, and humans as part of nature: from Taoism to ecophilosophy, from pantheism to Buddhism and Zen, and from still life to landscape art, people have sought in these and other fields to uncover the mystery of nature in their own ways. Renowned Armenian scientist Mikhail Chailakhyan approached nature through scientific inquiry and deciphered its language in his own way. Regarded as the founder of the hormonal theory of plant physiology, development and flowering, he began at YSU the scientific journey that would bring him international recognition. 

If nature could speak, it would declare its love for a human being who devoted most of a lifetime to nature, not only to understanding its secrets, but also to telling people, in the language of science, about the art of flowering that makes the world more beautiful. That person was the scientist Mikhail Chailakhyan...

Dialogue with nature through language of science

Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, and Honored Scientist of the Armenian SSR Mikhail Chailakhyan (1902-1991) was the first Armenian scientist to propose the hormonal regulation of plant development, giving it a theoretical formulation that was accepted by the international scientific community. He studied the nature and mechanism of action of gibberellins, a new group of phytohormones, and proposed methods for their application in viticulture, developing ways to regulate plant growth and flowering using plant hormones and to increase yields through growth stimulants. 

The scientist established that, in addition to hormonal stimulants, inhibitory substances, or inhibitors, also participate in regulating plant flowering.

YSU as key to unlocking nature's secrets through science 

Yerevan State University was the first and a pivotal milestone in Mikhail Chailakhyan's scientific career. After graduating from the YSU Faculty of Agriculture in 1926, he acquired the foundations that shaped his professional and scientific thinking. The university's academic environment, particularly his lecturers in botany and physiology, enabled the future scientist to deepen his interests and determine the direction of his work.

Chailakhyan later repeatedly emphasized the education he received at YSU as a cornerstone in the formation of his scientific worldview.

University as platform for scientific work 

YSU was not merely the starting point of his scientific career. Chailakhyan later returned to the university as a lecturer and chair head, led the YSU Chair of Plant Anatomy and Physiology for around 10 years beginning in the 1940s and linked a significant part of his scientific and educational work with YSU. He made a major contribution to the university by helping train scientific personnel, establish new laboratories and expand botanical research.

At his initiative, the Plant Physiology Laboratory of the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR was established in 1942, with YSU graduates also involved in its work. This further strengthened ties between the university and the academic community. 

Legacy that continues

The distinguished scientist authored 19 monographs, more than 350 articles, books and methodological manuals, which remain valuable research sources in the field because of their continuing scientific relevance. Under his supervision, around 50 candidate and 10 doctoral dissertations were defended. His theories continue to be studied and applied today in the latest research on phytohormones, auxins and gibberellins. 

For YSU, Chailakhyan is not only a distinguished alumnus but also an inseparable part of the university's science. His legacy is both of universal human value and a source of inspiration.

Chailakhyan lives on in the memories of generations not only through his scientific legacy, but also through his remarkable personal qualities. Thanks to his scientific potential and outstanding human qualities, he enjoyed immense affection and respect, as his contemporaries also attest in their recollections. 

"One of the most striking features of Mikhail Chailakhyan's character was his sense of civic responsibility and his absolute rejection of lies and falsehood both in life and in science. He was not only respected, as is customary in scientific circles, but also loved, which is far rarer. This was because his defining traits were a rare combination of talent and kindness: the wisdom of a scientist and an appealing human readiness to support and help anyone 'here and now,' regardless of how closely that person was connected with science. 

"The innovative scientific findings achieved by this devoted researcher of nature will remain recorded in the annals of scientific libraries around the world, serving as a valuable source for many future generations of researchers," writes Doctor of Biological Sciences D. B. Vakhmistrov (Moscow, Russia).

• For more information about Mikhail Chailakhyan, see "Михаил Христофорович Чайлахян. Ученый и человек" here. 

Recognition

Transcending the boundaries of national science, Chailakhyan's scientific achievements made his name known beyond Armenia as well.

Thanks to his prolific scientific work and innovative results, his name became known at the world's most prestigious scientific centers of the time, earning him numerous state and international honors. 

He was a full member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina, an honorary member of American and other countries' scientific societies of plant physiologists and botanists, and an honorary doctor of the University of Rostock in Germany. 

In 2022, at the proposal of YSU Rector Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, the Yerevan Council of Elders adopted a decision naming Aygestan 9th Street in Yerevan's Kentron administrative district after Mikhail Chailakhyan, the renowned Armenian plant physiologist, scientist and university scholar.

Mikhail Chailakhyan's scientific legacy demonstrates how Yerevan State University can serve as a starting point not only for personal growth and education, but also for the advancement of global science and major discoveries.