Zaalishvili Malkhaz

Zaalishvili Malkhaz (September 27, 1920, Mtskheta – September 9, 2016), biophysicist. A full member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences (1988; Corresponding Member 1979), Doctor of Biological Sciences (1973), Professor (1975), a member of the International Association for Theoretical and Applied Biophysical Education.

In 1941, he graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry at Tbilisi State University (TSU), specializing in physical chemistry. From 1941–44, he served as a chemist-analyst at the Georgian Institute of Hygiene. From 1947–86, he worked at the Institute of Physiology of the Georgian Academy of Sciences, where in 1962 he established the Laboratory of Biophysics (later the Sector of Biophysics). On his initiative, the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics of the Georgian Academy of Sciences was founded on the basis of the Sector of Biophysics at the I. Beritashvili Institute of Physiology.

From 1986–2000, he served as the director of the aforementioned institute. From 2000–06, he was the head of the Laboratory of Supramolecular Systems and Cell Biophysics at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics. Since 2006, he has been the head of the Department of Biological Motility at the same institute. From 1989–2002, he was a member of the Presidium of the Georgian Academy of Sciences and the Academic Secretary of the Biology Department. Since 2004, he has served as a consultant to the Presidium of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. From 2001–06, he was the director of the Central Scientific Library of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.

From 1956–2005, Zaalishvili led scientific-pedagogical activities at the Faculties of Biology and Physics at TSU. As a professor of the Faculty of Physics, he delivered lectures in the following disciplines: general and cellular biophysics, molecular biology, and radiobiology.

Zaalishvili laid the foundation for the development of several branches of biophysics and molecular biology in Georgia. He has published numerous scientific works, including a monograph, Physico-Chemical Foundations of Muscle Action (Tbilisi, 1971).

He was awarded the Order of Honor (1997).