GTU Expresses Sorrow Over the Passing of Professor Guram Gafrindashvili

On behalf of the university community, the Rector of the Georgian Technical University, Academician David Gurgenidze, expresses his sorrow over the passing of Professor Guram Gafrindashvili – a distinguished educator, a chemist and researcher at the GTU Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Chemical Technologies, and an Honored Inventor of Georgia – and extends his condolences to his family, loved ones, and colleagues.

“The Georgian Technical University, specifically the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Chemical Technologies and the Department of Chemical and Biological Technologies, has lost a highly accomplished researcher and inventor, an outstanding educator, and a colleague distinguished by exceptional human qualities. He made an invaluable contribution to chemical technology development, particularly in silicates. Professor Guram Gaprindashvili was a true innovator, as evidenced by his 214 published scientific papers, 3 monographs, 2 textbooks, and numerous international accolades. His long, prolific scientific career earned him the honorary title of “Honored Inventor of Georgia” and a gold medal, a fitting tribute to his remarkable talent and tireless dedication.

Professor Guram Gafrindashvili left behind a significant scientific legacy; his name is associated with 5 patents and nearly 100 inventor’s certificates. In Georgia, he pioneered the creation – based on local raw materials of pigments and fluxes with robust structures for use in cloisonné and painted enamels, as well as “Vitreous China”, a material for ceramic tableware that is still exported to the United States today. Furthermore, he developed high-quality Bone China, materials for glass fusing, and high-voltage porcelain electrical insulators. Particularly noteworthy is his invention for medical use: corundum-based ceramics for artificial joint implants, which are fully biologically compatible with the human body.

I am confident that the name and scientific achievements of Mr. Guram Gafrindashvili will occupy a worthy place in the history of the Georgian Technical University and Georgian science.”

 – Academician David Gurgenidze