The Professor Tamaz Gamkrelidze Award to be established, at the initiative of Mikheil Chkhenkeli

Owing to the initiative of the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, Mikheil Chkhenkeli, the Tamaz Gamkrelidze Prize will be established. The competition will be organized by Shota Rustaveli Georgian National Science Foundation.

The Tamaz Gamkrelidze Prize is awarded for outstanding achievements and contributions in linguistics. Georgian or foreign citizens with a doctorate in linguistics can participate in the competition.

In addition, at the initiative of Mikheil Chkhenkeli, a cabinet named after Tamaz Gamkrelidze will be opened at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, and a scholarship named after him will be established for students.

Professor Tamaz Gamkrelidze became the first full Georgian member of the European Academy and was also elected an Honorary Foreign Member of the British, Austrian, Saxon Academies of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was the President of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences and its Honorary President for the rest of his life. As a result of seventy years of scientific and pedagogical activity, he raised many generations at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. He was the rector of Tbilisi State University, as well as a member of the Advisory Board.

Tamaz Gamkrelidze made an especially important contribution to the restoration and development of Georgian statehood, and he signed the Act of Restoration of State Independence on April 9, 1991.