Hrant Mushegh Tovmassian was born on June 3, 1929 in Yerevan. He entered the Yerevan State University (YSU) Department of Physics-Mathematics in 1948 and graduated from it with a specialization of Astrophysics in 1953. In the same year he joined the staff of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO). He was a post-graduate at BAO in 1953-1956, and took his Ph.D. degree in Physical-Mathematical Sciences in 1958 under the supervision of Prof. S.E. Khaikin (“Increase of the sensitivity of interferometric radio telescopes”). In 1969, at the age of 40 (one of the youngest), Tovmassian became a Doctor of Physical-Mathematical Sciences (thesis: “Optical and radio studies of galaxies and clusters of gala

xies”).

Hrant Tovmassian was one of the principle researchers forming the nucleus of Byurakan Observatory under the leadership of its founder and long time head Professor Victor Hambartsumian (Ambartsumian).

He was the Scientific Secretary of BAO in 1968- 1972,

Head of Laboratory in 1972-1992,

Deputy Director of BAO on Science in 1979-1986,

Leading Research Associate and Head of a research group since 1986.

Tovmassian has lectured at the YSU Chair of Astrophysics in 1967-1992, and became a Professor in 1986.

Since 1992, he worked at the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE, Puebla, Mexico). During his career, he has also worked for long periods of time in UK, Australia and  USA. He  was visiting research fellow in  Germany, Spain, and South Korea. Under his supervision  numerous  students prepared their theses both in Armenia and Mexico.