Petrosyan, Valery Samsonovich

Valery Samsonovich Petrosyan was born on March 7, 1942 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR. Parents come from Mardakert ( Nagorno-Karabakh ). Father - Petrosyan Samson Tevosovich, (1912-1996), graduated from high school in Artsakh , studied in Leningrad as a civil engineer. After graduation, he did not find a job by profession in his native city, so he was forced to move. Since 1935 he lived in Baku, married his fellow countrywoman Chilingarova Tamara Arutyunovna (1914-1993). The family had two children, Valery Samsonovich had a sister, Alla (1937-1991), who graduated from the Moscow Conservatory .

Valery Samsonovich devoted a textbook to his parents, published in 2017 as part of the presidential grant , on chemistry and environmental toxicology .

Wife - Irina Vsevolodovna Petrosyan, worked at the chemistry department of Moscow State University , son and daughter, two granddaughters.

Learning

In the 6th grade, Valery became interested in chemistry, thanks to his teacher Rosalia Zakharovna, he attended a chemical club. After the 9th grade, being impressed by OA Reutov ’s book “The Architect of Molecules,” Valery Samsonovich decided to enter the Moscow State University named after MV Lomonosov , and even came before entering the chemistry department of Moscow State University to get acquainted with his future teacher, however he was not allowed into the faculty building.

In 1959 he entered the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov . He played for the Moscow State Basketball Team, was the soloist of the Moscow State University Jazz Orchestra. As a student, Valery Samsonovich, under the leadership of Reutov, mastered NMR spectroscopy for one year at one of two spectrometers in Moscow at the Scientific-Physical-Chemical Institute named after L. Ya. Karpova .

In 1964 he graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry. Valery Samsonovich was the first graduate of the Faculty of Chemistry, in whose thesis the NMR spectrum was used. He was left to work in the laboratory of theoretical problems of organic chemistry, founded by O. Reutov , to whom Valery Samsonovich purposefully went to Moscow.

In 1967 he defended his thesis on organic chemistry on the topic " NMR Spectra and the structure of organomercury compounds " ^[1] .

The reason for the shift of V. Petrosyan's scientific interests towards chemical ecology and toxicology was the discovery in 1969 in four countries (Canada, USA, Great Britain, France) of a sex change in mollusks due to a shift in the hormonal background due to the ingress of tin from organic paint, which is painted on the bottoms of ships. Fundamental knowledge of organotin and mercury substances prompted Valery Samsonovich to the idea that human contact with mercury should be terminated.

Since 1975, he participated, organized and led environmental expeditions in the Caspian and Black Seas , Lake Baikal , the Atlantic Ocean , the Mediterranean and Tyrrhenian Seas .

Since 1975, he studied the behavior of humus in natural waters as part of expeditions to the R / V “Moscow University” in the Atlantic Ocean, the Black, Mediterranean and Tyrrhenian Seas.

In 1976-1977, he went on an exchange for 1 year to the USA, where he worked on completing his doctoral dissertation at the California Institute of Technology in collaboration with John Roberts . On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Roberts in 2018, he wrote an article “What We Did with John Roberts at the California Institute of Technology in 1976-1977,” which, unfortunately, was not published.

In 1978, V. Petrosyan together with O.A. Reutov and L.A. Aslanov registered the discovery "On the trans-hardening of chemical bonds in the coordination compounds of intransitive elements" ^[2] .

In 1979, he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "Effects of the environment in the chemistry of organometallic compounds of mercury and tin" ^[3] .

Since 1981 - Professor, Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry . In 1988-2018 Head of the Laboratory of Physical Organic Chemistry ^[4] .

Since 1979, the USSR State Committee for Science and Technology has completed the task of developing a comprehensive method for the analysis of oil pollution of aquatic ecosystems , which includes GHS, GHMS and ¹³ С and ¹ Н NMR ^[5] .

Since 1986 - studies using the GHMS method of the qualitative and quantitative composition of mixtures of organochlorine compounds formed during the disinfection of water with molecular chlorine by nature. It has been shown that they are formed as a result of the splitting of the humic substances contained in natural water with chlorine ^[6] .

In 1987, Petrosyan V. S. was created at Moscow State University a program of free additional environmental education “Open Environmental University of Moscow State University”, in which more than 8800 people received modern environmental education, not only in Russia but also in Kazakhstan and Latvia .

Since 1990, in his studies, he revealed a high detoxifying activity of humic substances in relation to organic toxicants and derivatives of heavy metals ^[7] .

1995-1998 - in the EU project on bioaccumulation of organic ecotoxicants in food chains, Lake Baikal biota showed that the main toxicants in phyto- and zooplankton , fish, birds and seals are PAHs , PCBs and DDT ^[8] .

2001-2004 - the EU project showed that the ingestion of mercury and organotin ecotoxicants into the organisms of Russian sturgeons of the North Caspian leads to peroxidation of unsaturated fats , leading to negative changes in fish organisms ^[9] .

2008-2012 - V.S. Petrosyan developed a system of bioindication of the quality of natural waters arriving at the drinking water treatment station, based on round-the-clock monitoring of the cardiac rhythm of freshwater mollusks and allowing to establish the fact of severe water pollution in a matter of minutes ^[10] .

Since 2013, work has been carried out to prevent pollution of natural reservoirs with cyanotoxins , the sources of which are blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) ^[11] .

From 1980 to 1993, he taught a course in organic chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry at Moscow University; from 1993, he taught physical and chemical methods in organic chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry, a course in environmental chemistry at the Faculty of Geology , a course in chemistry and environmental toxicology at the Faculty of Geography, and an interfaculty course "Chemistry, people and the environment", as well as courses in ecology , chemical ecology and ecology of the Moscow region in MPU.

From 1991 to 1998, as a visiting professor, he taught NMR spectroscopy, organometallic and environmental chemistry courses at universities in Germany, Italy, Canada, China and Chile.

Under his leadership, 8 doctoral dissertations and 32 master's theses were defended.

• Diploma of Scientific Discovery N 344 (together with Reutov O.A. and Aslanov L.A.) (1978).
• Member of the Academic Council of the faculty (1979-1993).
• Rector of the Open Ecological University of Moscow State University (1987).
• Member of the editorial boards of scientific journals "Applied Organometallic Chemistry" (1987), "Ecological Chemistry" (1993), "Vestnik MSU. Ser.chem. "(1994).
• Full member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RANS) (1990)
• Member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (2002).
• Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Ecological Council of Russia (1990-1996).
• Member of the Scientific Council of the State Committee for Ecology and the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation (1992-2001).
• Member of the International Council for Magnetic Resonance (1994).
• Member of the Council of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (1994).
• Member of the Advisory Council of the Russian Green Cross (1994).
• Member of the Council of the European Society of Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology (1996).
• Soros professor (1996-1999).
• Member of the Presidium of the Russian Ecological Congress (1997).
• Representative of Russia in the Committee "Chemistry and the Environment" of the Federation of European Chemical Societies (1999).
• UN expert on chemical safety (2000).
• Laureate of the "Grant of Moscow" (2000-2003).
• Honorary Badge of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences “Knight of Science and Arts” (2002).
• Winner of the “SETAC-Europe” Prize for Environmental Education (2002).
• Honorary Doctor of the International Independent Ecological and Political University (2002).
• Laureate of the Medal of the Italian Chemical Society "For outstanding achievements in environmental chemistry" (2003).
• Honorary Badge of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences “For Merits in the Development of Science and Economics” (2004).
• President of the Center "Ecology and Health" (2004).
• Member of the Expert Councils on Ecology in the State Duma, Moscow City Duma and the Government of Moscow.
• Honored Professor of Moscow State University (2007).
• Honored Worker of Higher School of the Russian Federation (2011).
• Order of Friendship (2017).
• Deputy General Director for Research in the project “Energy from Waste” ^[12] (2018).

Valery Samsonovich is skiing , has not missed a single season since 1968, he was in the mountains of the USA , Europe , Canada , throughout the post-Soviet space.

• Sargsyan S.T. Encyclopedia of Artsakh-Karabakh. St. Petersburg, 2005 .-- 312 p.
• Literary newspaper No. 29 (6472) (07/23/2014)
• Chronicle of Moscow University
• On the anniversary of Valery Samsonovich Petrosyan
• Laboratory of Physical Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Moscow State University
• Petrosyan, Valery Samsonovich

• Petrosyan Valery Samsonovich
• Petrosyan Valery