Tetris-Wordtris co-creator nommed for Armenia president's post

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Ambassador to the UK Armen Sarkissian was nominated for the post of Armenia’s president by the ruling Republican Party (RPA) on Friday, January 19.

An astrophysicist and former prime minister of Armenia, Sarkissian has been involved in computer software industry and is credited for the authorship of game software. He is one of the original authors of Tetris-Wordtris , the extremely popular tile-matching video game.

Sarkissian was prime minister of Armenia from 1996 – 97. Before that he was the Armenian Ambassador to the UK, Senior Ambassador of Armenia to Europe (Deputy Foreign Minister) and concurrently represented Armenia as Ambassador to the European Union, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and The Vatican.

After stepping down as prime minister because of illness (from which he has now recovered), Armen became ambassador for a second time.

He then gave up the role for a few years to focus on other projects, before taking it up again in 2013, this time on an honorary basis.

From 1976 to 1984 , before his term in public office, Sarkissian was Professor of Physics at Yerevan State University and subsequently Head of the Department of Computer Modelling of Complex Systems at the University’s Department of Theoretical Physics. In 1984 he became a Visiting Research Fellow and later professor at the University of Cambridge.

Sarkissian has served as Special Advisor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and as a Governor of the EBRD from 1999-2000.

He has also been Senior Executive Advisor to the Board of Directors and Chairman of a host of global companies, including BP, Alcatel, Telefonica, Finmeccanica and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The presidential election will be held on March 2.