The 17th International Conference «Methods of Symmetries in Physics» (SYMPHYS-XVII) is being held this week in Yerevan, Armenia. The Conference was jointly organized by the State Committee of Science of the Republic of Armenia, the Yerevan State University and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. The venue of the Conference is the Ani Plaza Hotel which is the largest hotel in the capital of Armenia and it will host the Conference on 9-15 July 2017.

The purpose of the SYMPHYS-XVII Conference is to bring together scientists who worked in the modern studies on group theoretical methods in physics and covers fields of research where the symmetry methods play an important role. The main topics of the SYMPHYS-XVII are Foundations of quantum mechanics; Integrable models; Dynamical symmetry, separation of variables and superintegrability; Symmetries of differential, difference and nonlinear equations; Supersymmetry in Quantum Mechanics and gauge theories; Superstrings, Cosmology and Quantum gravity; Infinite-dimensional symmetries; Lie groups, representation theory and special functions; Quantum optics, coherent states, quantum computing, information and control; Symmetries in Condensed Matter Physics and Statistical Physics; Symmetry in particle, molecular, atomic and nuclear physics.

The first five Conferences were initiated by Professor Ya.A. Smorodinsky and were organized by the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering in Obninsk from 1986 to 1991. Professor Ya.A.Smorodinsky (1917-1992), an outstanding theoretical physicist, had been working at the Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics JINR (1956 — 1992). Professor Ya.A.Smorodinsky made a significant contribution to the elementary particle physics, nuclear physics, as well as to the investigation of various aspects of symmetries in Physics

The next seven Conferences of this series were organized under the patronage of Professor A.N.Sissakian and were held at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna in 1993, 1995 and 1997 and 2009, in Yerevan in 2001, 2003 and 2006 and Prague in 2004. Professor A.N.Sissakian (1944 – 2010) is a famous theoretical physicist who made a substantial and important contribution to high energy physics and to the investigation of various aspects of dynamical symmetries in physics. His whole life was devoted to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, where he rose from a junior researcher to Director of the Institute (2006 – 2010).