History

The High Energy Physics Scientific-Research Institute of Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State Uni­versity (HEPI - TSU) was founded in the 1979, on the basis of high energy nuclear laboratory of the faculty of physics funded in 1971 with the support of Academician Ilya Vekua, Rector of the University. The director of the institute scince its foundation until 1996 was academician Nodar Amaglobeli. In the years 1996-2004 institute was gudided by ex-president of Georgian National Academy of Science, academician Albert Tavkhelidze, who was also the scientific leader of the institute scinece its foundation. Starting from 2004 the director of the institute is PhD of Phys-Math Sciences, Professor Mikheil Nioradze.

In the soviet time institute had close connections with The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) of Dubna (Russia) and Serpukhovo High Energy Physics Institute (Russia), where the most of the scientific staff of the institute gained experience and mastered scientific skills. There is still very tight collaboration with Dubna. After independece of the country institute established new connections with The European Organization for Nuclear Research (Geneva, Switzerland) and later with The Research Center Jülich (Jülich, Germany). Many successful programs were carried out within the scope of these collaborations, some of the representatives of the institute played significant role in preparation of the experiments (ATLAS, CMS, ANKE) in these facilities.

In 2009 members of the institute Prof. A. Khelashvili and Prof. M. Nioradze were awarded the National Award for the seriese of work: "Light front formalism for composite systems and some of its applications in particle and relativistic nuclear physics"

In 2010 another national award was given to the members of the institute Prof. Dr. J. Khubua and Dr. I. Minashvili for the seriese of work: "Development of Central Parts for the Hadron Calorimeter, the Muon System and Controls of the ATLAS Facility for the Scheduled Experiment at the LHC".

Many of the ex-scientific members of the institute continue to work in the leading international scientific centers and universities:

• Vladimer Kekelidze, Irakli Minashvili, Zviad Tsamalaidze, Alexandre Machavariani,  Levan Glonti, Tengiz Topuria,  - The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) (Dubna, Russia).
• Alexandre Mchedlishvili, Tariel Sakhelashvili - The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) (Zurich, Switzer­land).
• Amiran Tomaradze  - Northwestern University (Chicago, USA).
• Andro Kacharava - The Research Center Jülich (Jülich, Germany).
• Akaki Rusetsky - Universität Bonn (Bonn, Germany).
• Vakhtang Kartvelishvili - Lancaster University (Lancaster, UK).
• Vasil Jorjadze - Brookhaven National Lab (Brookhaven, USA).

Most of them still keep contacts with the institute and participate in scientific activities.