Aram Papoyan, the head Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia won the 2015 ICO Galileo Galilei Award, the press service of Armenia’s NAS reports.

The scientist was awarded “for his valuable contribution to the development of experimental atomic physics in Armenia.”

ICO, the International Commission for Optics awards annually the "ICO Prize", the ICO Galileo Galilei Award and the ICTP/ICO Gallieno Denardo Award.

The Galileo Galilei Award contributes to one of the essential missions of the International Commission for Optics: recognize the promotion of Optics under difficult circumstances. The award was established by the 1993 General Assembly of ICO and has been awarded annually since 1994.

Aram Papoyan was born in 1959. His scope of the study includes laser and atomic physics, as well as quantum and nonlinear optics. Papoyan won the presidential award in 2004. He is a member of the European Optical Society and Alfred Kastler National Fund. In 2010 Papoyan was elected a member of the Armenian NAS.