Gverdtsiteli Irakli

Irakli Gverdtsiteli (December 22, 1918, Tbilisi –December 19, 1991, Tbilisi) was a physicist and a full member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (1979). He also served as Vice-President of the Georgian Academy of Sciences from 1978 to 1982. In 1974, he was awarded the State Prize of the USSR.

He graduated from Tbilisi State University (1941) and worked at the Tbilisi Railway Transport Engineering Institute (1941–1946), the Sokhumi Physics and Technical Institute (1946–1969), and was the director of the Podolsk Technology Research Institute (1969–1976). From 1976–1984, he headed the Georgian State Committee on Science and Technology. From 1984 onward, he worked at the Institute for Stable Isotopes and Tbilisi State University.

His main works focused on isotope separation, atomic energy, and the physics of solid bodies. Under his leadership, research on the physical processes and technological methods of isotope separation led to the establishment of a scientific research center in Georgia, the Institute of Stable Isotopes (Tbilisi, 1963), which was later named after him in 1992. Gverdtsiteli also worked on the direct conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy, which led to the creation of the world’s first thermoelectric reactor-converter (1964).

A. Guldamashvili