Nikoloz (Niko) Muskhelishvili (; – 15 July 1976) was a renowned Soviet Georgian mathematician, physicist and engineer who was one of the founders and first President (1941–1972) of the Georgian SSR Academy of Sciences (now Georgian Academy of Sciences). He is often referred by the Russian version of his name, Nikolai Ivanovich Muskhelisvili (Николай Иванович Мусхелишвили). Life and career Muskhelishvili was born on in Tbilisi, then part of the Russian Empire into a family of engineers. He graduated from local grammar school in 1909 and afterwards from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Saint Petersburg in 1914. Immediately after his graduation he became head of Applied Mathematics of the same faculty and in 1918 passed the exam for the master's degree. His first scientific magazine was published already earlier in 1915 containing a number of issues on elasticity theory. From 1917 to 1920 he worked as assistant director of the Petrograd University and also taught mathematics in other institutions in Saint Petersburg. At request of the short-lived Democratic Republic of Georgia he moved back to his native country in 1920 in order to organize the establishment of a national scientific school. There Muskhelishvili conducted lessons in the Tbilisi State University and Polytechnic Institute as an assistant professor and from 1922 to 1938 as head professor. After the Soviet invasion of Georgia in 1921, Muskhelishvili was allowed to carry on his works in the Transcaucasian Soviet Academy of Sciences and since 1933 was corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He became a member of the CPSU in 1940. In 1941 based on the former Georgian Academy of Sciences a new USSR Academy of Sciences was established by the Georgian SSR and Muskhelishvili got elected as its first president and academician. Simultaneously he also became director of the Tbilisi Mathematics Institute named after AM Rasmadze, and held that position until his death in 1976. From 1956 to 1976 Muskhelishvili was chairman of the National Committee of the USSR on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences). Since 1957 he was also member of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences. In 1972 due to health problems the professor resigned from the post of president of the Georgian SSR Academy of Sciences but in recognition for his outstanding achievements and services was elected honorary president of the academy. He was also an