Tamaz Gamkrelidze
 

Tamaz Gamkrelidze, outstanding Georgian linguist and orientalist, Doctor of Philology, Professor, Academician of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was born on October 23, 1929 in Kutaisi, in the family of a servant. In 1952, Gamkrelidze graduated with honors from the Department of Philology of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Tbilisi University, specializing in Semitic studies. In 1953-60, he worked as a research fellow at the Institute of Linguistics of the Georgian Academy of Sciences, and in 1960-73 as a senior research fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Georgian Academy of Sciences. Since 1973 T. Gamkrelidze was the director of the Academician G. Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies. Since 1960, he was engaged in scientific-pedagogical activities at Tbilisi State University. He was also the Head of the Department of Structural and Applied Linguistics and the Head of the Department of General and Applied Linguistics of the same university.
 

T. Gamkrelidze successfully defended his candidate’s degree in 1956, and his doctoral thesis in 1962. He was awarded the scientific title of professor in 1964, and was elected a full member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences in 1974.
 

Acad. Tamaz Gamkrelidze's research included theoretical and comparative linguistics, semiotic studies (theory of signs), culturology, and scriptology. He studied the history and structure of ancient Eastern languages, Indo-European, Semitic and Kartvelian languages. Tamaz Gamkrelidze is the author of about 200 scientific works, many published abroad. He also served as chief editor of the Journal of the All-Union Academy of Sciences “Вопросы Языкознания” for many years.
 

Tamaz Gamkrelidze took part in many international scientific conferences and symposiums, gave lectures at various foreign universities.
 

Gamkrelidze was elected as a foreign honorary member of the British, Austrian, Saxon Academies of Sciences, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also an honorary member of the American Linguistic Society and the European Linguistic Society, where he was president from 1986 to 1987. Academician Tamaz Gamkrelidze was an honorary doctor at Bonn and Chicago universities.
 

In August 1991, Acad. T. Gamkrelidze was appointed Rector of Tbilisi State University but served only briefly.
 

Tamaz Gamkrelidze was active in public life and politics as well as science and education. In 1989, he participated in the 1st Congress of People’s Deputies held in Moscow, where the April 9 tragedy in Tbilisi was discussed in a tense atmosphere. In 1990-91 Tamaz Gamkrelidze served as a member of the Supreme Council of independent Georgia. Since 1992, he was a member of the Parliament of Georgia for several convocations and the chairman of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee of the 1992-95 convocation.
 

Academician Tamaz Gamkrelidze has received many awards for his scientific, pedagogical, and political work: he has been awarded the Lenin, Humboldt (FRG) and Ivane Javakhishvili prizes.