Mkrtich Nersisian

Born Nov. 12 (25), 1910, in the village of Parbi, in what is now Ashtarak Raion, Armenian SSR. Soviet historian. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (1950). Honored Scientist of the Armenian SSR (1961). Member of the CPSU since 1938.

Nersisian graduated from the department of history and literature of the University of Yerevan in 1931. From 1939 to 1947 he was director of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR. From 1947 to 1950 he was head of the subdepartment of history of the Armenian people of the University of Yerevan. Between 1950 and 1960 he was vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR; in 1958 he was made editor in chief of Istoriko-filologicheskii zhurnal (Historical-Philological Journal) of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR. In 1966 he became rector of the University of Yerevan.

Nersisian’s principal works deal with the history of the Armenian people in the 18th and 19th centuries, Armenian-Russian relations, and Russian-Caucasian relations. He was a deputy to the seventh through ninth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Nersisian has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.