PROYECTO VES
José Álvarez-Cornett
(@chegoyo en Twitter)
CARACAS (Chegoyo.com)
December 31st, 2019

Danil (Daniel) Toradse’s birthday cake.

Dear friends of VES PROJECT,

On Sunday, December 29th, we went to Professor Danil Toradse’s home to celebrate his 105th birthday. From the field of war to the academic cloister, we celebrated his 105 years of life. Danil Toradse, a Physicist and retired Full Professor of the Central University of Venezuela, a Venezuelan value from Tbilisi, Georgia. 

Dr. José Antonio López, Director of the School of Physics, on behalf of the authorities of the Faculty of Sciences of the Central University of Venezuela, gave him the congratulatory letter sent by the Council of the Faculty of Sciences (copy of the letter in Spanish, here). Professor Toradse surprised everyone present by reading the letter out loud without any visual help as it can be seen in the pictures below.

Professor Toradse reading the letter from Dr. José Antonio López, Director of the School of Physics, Faculty of Sciences (UCV).

Reading this letter made Danil Toradse very happy. He felt quite surprised to have reached 105 years of age. 

For a person of his age, we found him to be in good health, very vigorous, with a good tone of voice and sharp memory., However, he has some hearing problems and mobility difficulties due to a fall he had almost five years ago. Professor Toradse was concerned about the current situation in Venezuela and the present conditions of university professors, especially retired professors. 

Dr. José López and Professor Danil Toradse.

On this occasion, in addition to physicist José López, the historian of science Dr. Yajaira Freites, accompanied us. She is the current President of the Venezuelan Association for the Advancement of Science (AsoVAC).
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From left to right: José López, Danil Toradse, Yajaira Freites, and José Álvarez-Cornett.

In 1958, Professor Danil Toradse was one of the founding fathers of the School of Physics and Mathematics of the then-new Faculty of Science which was created on March 3, 1958. The new school was created out from the old School of Physics and Mathematics that existed at the Faculty of Engineering in 1957.

Professor Danil Toradse was born before the Russian Revolution (1917) that brought the Bolsheviks to power, in the city of Tbilisi, in Georgia, on December 29th, 1914, when Georgia was already part of the Tsarist empire. Professor Toradse studied Physics at Tbilisi State University and graduated in 1938. He was a Ph.D. student (Aspirantura degree) in Physics when World War II began. He participated in the war as an artillery lieutenant in the Soviet army. However, he was soon captured in the Battle of Caucusus and became a war prisoner held in a German labor camp. After his liberation from the camp, he remained in Austria for almost five years. He arrived in Venezuela in 1950 and, in that same year, he began working at the Central University of Venezuela as a Teaching Assistant.

Picture of the professors of the Department of Physics of the School of Physics and Mathematics of the Faculty of Sciences (UCV) towards the end of 1959. Prof. Danil Toradse appears in the second row, the fourth person counted from the left. Source: Carlos Herrera Archive

In 1975, Professor Danil Toradse retired after having already served as Full Professor of Physics in the Faculties of Science and Engineering. Recently, we wrote again about his life for NOTICIENCIAS, the newsletter of the Faculty of Science (the article, in Spanish, can be downloaded here).

Danil Toradse and his 105th birthday cake

Waiting for the cake to arrive at the table.

¡Esperando por el Cumpleaños Feliz! (Waiting for the Happy Birthday song).

Not everyone can expect to celebrate his/her 105th birthday cake and also be in good condition to eat it and celebrate it with friends. Prof. Toradse has many reasons to be happy.

The cake and the lit candle.

Blowing the candle at once.

We, at VES PROJECT, are very happy to have been able to share a new birthday with Professor Toradse. Seeing Professor Toradse glad and delighted also made us feel joyful.

The author, José Álvarez-Cornett and Prof. Danil Toradse.

In VES PROJECT we have already written about his life (here, in English, and here, in Spanish). We attended his 99th-birthday party (see video) and to celebrate his 100th birthday, we produced a short video presenting a brief summary of his life. 

We wish Professor Toradse a harmonious path in the years to come with great health until he turns 110.

We want to celebrate his 110th birthday!

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