Agop Terzan

Agop Terzan was a Turkish-Armenian astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of observational astrophysics. He was born in Istanbul in 1927 and graduated from the Getronagan Armenian High School. He received his bachelor's degree in mathematical and astronomical science in 1945 and his master's degree in astronomy in 1949 from Istanbul University. He worked as a teacher of mathematics at the Central Lyceum of Istanbul until 1962, when he moved to France to pursue his doctoral studies at the Lyon University. He obtained his PhD in mathematical sciences in 1965 and became a professor at the same university in 1980. He was a member of the French National Astronomy Committee and the International Astronomical Union. He discovered 710 variable stars during the 1960s and 11 globular clusters, including Terzan 5 and Terzan 7, which bear his name. He also discovered 4430 new variable stars, 158 diffuse nebulae, 124 galaxies, and 1428 high proper motion stars. He published more than 100 papers in scientific journals and was awarded several prizes and honors for his achievements. He died in Lyon in 2020 at the age of 92.