Did You Know?

Haig Manoogian taught film making to director Martin Scorsese at New York University. The famed Italian-American director dedicated “Raging Bull” to his teacher, who had just died before the release of the film.

Upon Sultan Selim the Grim’s commission, Sinan undertook extensive work to rebuild Jerusalem. He overseered the construction and repair of the city walls and gates. He installed a water supply system, including many sabil roadside fountains and restored the Western Wall. The latter is considered the most complete and finest city wall built anywhere in the world in the 16th century (length 3,800 metres, with towers about 4,325 metres). The Armenian architect also designed the Damascus Gate, to this day the major entry point to the Old City. But Sinan’s main achievement was the redesign of the interior and exterior of the Dome of the Rock, and replacing the walls of the sanctuary with glazed porcelain tiles from Iznik. (“Illustrated History of Jerusalem” by Meir Ben-Dov).

While some people believe that the first Christian edifice in the world is the Monastery of St. Anthony in the eastern desert of Egypt, the historical reality is claimed by the Monastery of St. Echmiadzin which was built in 303 A.D.

Traders from Armenia frequented the Indian subcontinent as early as 2000 BC. Winding their way along tortuous mountains and following the Silk Road through Iran and Afghanistan they headed to India for the spices, muslin, and precious stones.  (“The Daily Star”, Dhaka, Sept. 4, 2006)

In “The Emergence of Modern Turkey” (1962), British historian Bernard Lewis wrote that Turkey had killed 1.5 million Armenians in 1915. However, in his revised (2002) version of the book, he replaced Armenian “holocaust” with “slaughter” and changed the 1.5 million to “according to estimates, more than a million,” and a concluding remark that an “unknown number of Turks who also died in the putative struggle for possession of a single homeland.” What changed between 1962 and 2002? Lewis entered politics and decided to take sides for economic, professional, and personal reasons. The historian’s interests lay with the Turkish government, not historic truth.

During the Second World War the British War Office intelligence branch (MI-9) hired Nubar Gulbenkian to create a secret operation to escort British survivors of the Dunkirk debacle from France to Spain. Gulbenkian was in his thirties, wealthy and an official in the neutral Iranian legation in London. He had sought out British agents and volunteered to carry out undercover assignments in foreign countries. Disguised as a traveling salesman, he hired, in the southern French city of Perpignan, garage owner Michel Pareyre who successfully escorted British escapees over the Pyrenees to Spain. (“Secret Tales of WWII” by William B. Breur).

The self-wringing sponge named Quickie was invented by PETER VOSBIKIAN… LUTHER SIMJIAN invented the ATM, military flight simulator, and the postage meter… ALBERT KAPIKIAN invented the Rotravirus vaccine injector… ROGER ALTOUNIAN invented the pressured inhaler and sodium therapy… PETER TER-POGOSSIAN was one of the fathers of positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, It was the first functional brain imaging technique… RAYMOND DAMADIAN invented the MRI machine… JIRAYR TEZEL invented the hair transplantation device… VARAZTAD KAZANJIAN is the father of plastic surgery… HAMPAR KELIKIAN invented the limb restoration surgical technique… ARA and BARON DARZI co-invented the minimally invasive robot-assisted surgery… Cybernetic communication expert HAIG KAFAFIAN designed aircraft control and missile guidance systems… EMIK AVAKYAN invented the text to speech to microfilm… ALEX MANOOGIAN is responsible for the single-faucet design (Delta)… ARDASHES AYKANIAN invented the bendy and spoon straw, the firm form of Tupperware, the blue strip on car windshields… RUEN ESKERJIAN invented an anti-aircraft gun during WWII… SEMYON KIRLIAN is the inventor of high-voltage photography… HARRY TOROSSIAN invented the ice cream cone and the Melba toast… HARRY K. DAGHLIAN Jr. was part of the Manhattan Project during WWII.

OSCAR H. BANKER (ASADOOR SARAFIAN) of Chicago is one of the most prolific American inventors. He invented helicopter controls for Sikorsky helicopters and the first practical car automatic transmission. His design is now the standard worldwide… Armenian MELIK TANGIEV of the Soviet Union designed the first oil platform in open sea (the Caspian)… In 1916 STEPHAN STEPANIAN of the US designed the first ready-mix concrete trucks… ED ISKENDERIAN invented (1963) the hydraulic racing camshaft… BORIS BABAYAN is the father of the Soviet superconductor… ARTHUR H. BULBULIAN invented the oxygen mask (A-14) for the US Air Force in 1914… ARDEM MIKOYAN, the younger brother of Soviet President ANASTAS MIKOYAN, is the co-inventor of the MiG fighter… Mathematician LEONID KHACHIYAN invented the system which solved linear programming problems—considered intractable until then.

Armenia-based astronomer VICTOR HAMPARTSOUMIAN was one of the founders of theoretical astrophysics. He did most of his work at the Pyuragan Observatory in Armenia… GIACOMO LUIGI CIAMICIAN, an Armenian-Italian scientist who was nominated nine times for the Nobel Prize, is the father of the solar panel and a number of solar energy applications… In 1954 Dr. EDWARD KEONJIAN, microelectronics guru, designed the first solar-powered, pocket-sized radio transmitter… AVEDIS TEVANIAN was the chief software technology officer and senior VP of software engineering at Apple Computers. He was a pioneer in creating cross platform development environments used worldwide… ALEXANDER KEMURDZIAN, founder of space transport engineering, designed the first Moon and Mars Rovers. In the 1940 he also designed the first remote vehicle.

CHRISTOPHER DER-SEROPIAN was given the first claim patent for the color of the US dollar in 1954… In 1949 RICHARD DONCHIAN developed the trend-timing method of futures investing and introduced the mutual fund concept in money management… HOVHANNES APKAR ADAMIAN made significant improvements to the principles of B/W and color TV broadcasting… The world’s first and most-sophisticated radio-optical telescope was built by Paris Herouni in 1960. It was named the Herouni Mirror Radio Telescope… GREGOR GURZADIAN of Armenia was a pioneer in the construction and use of small space telescopes—20 years before the Hubble. He made UV and X-Ray observations on the sun through his space telescope… Dr. ARA MIRZOYAN, formerly of the Pyuragan Observatory in Armenia and now director of the Galaxy Company there, led a team of Armenian scientists in 2012 to make the largest Cherenkov telescope in the world. The 560-tonne HESSE II (High Energy Cosmic Gamma Ray Astronomy) telescope has 875 mirrors and every one of them has the word ARMENIA written on it. The telescope has an area of 600 square metres. The observatory was located in Namibia because atmospheric conditions are most advantageous in that region of South Africa.