Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian[a] (born 14 April 1933) is an Armenian and Russian nuclear physicist who is best known as a researcher of superheavy chemical elements.

[7][b] Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russian SFSR, USSR on 14 April 1933[12] to Armenian parents.

After the Eastern Front of World War II commenced, his family decided to not return to Rostov since it was occupied by Germans.

[22][23] "A remarkable physicist and experimentalist… his work is characterised by originality, an ability to approach a problem from an unexpected side, and to achieve an ultimate result."

[7] From the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, the partnership of JINR, directed by Oganessian, and the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany, resulted in the discovery of six chemical elements (107 to 112): bohrium,[24][25][12] meitnerium, hassium,[26] darmstadtium, roentgenium, and copernicium.

[9] Oganessian has been considered worthy of a Nobel laureate in Chemistry,[34] including by Alexander Sergeev, former head of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

[36] The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced in November 2016 that element 118 would be named oganesson to honor Oganessian.

[61] In 2022 the Central Bank of Armenia issued a silver commemorative coin dedicated to Oganessian and the element oganesson (Og).