Science in the U.S.S.R.* Astronomy and Terrestrial Magnetism

Abstract

RUSSIA has played an important part in the development of astronomy since the foundation of the Pulkova Observatory by Czar Nicholas in 1839. Under the direction of F. G. W. Struve, this observatory was built regardless of expense. It has made notable contributions to fundamental astronomy, its instrumental equipment for such observations being more varied and complete than that of any other observatory. The Pulkova observations have always been characterized by their great accuracy. At the beginning of the present century, the work was expanded to include astrometry and astrophysics. Its great refractor, of 30-inches aperture and 45-feet focal length, was one of the finest in the world. In 1908 an astrophysical observatory was established at Simeis in the Crimea. There were, at the time I visited Russia in 1914, several other observatories, but for the most part their equipment was modest and their staffs were small. Since the Revolution a great expansion in astronomical work has occurred. Additional instrumental equipment has been installed, including the 40-inch reflector at Simeis: new observatories have been constructed in Abastumani (Georgia), Stalinabad (Tajikistan), Yerevan (Armenia), Poltava (Ukraine) and Alma Ata (Kazakhstan), the last of these during the war years. Astronomical institutes have been established in Moscow and Leningrad, for computational and theoretical work in the fields both of astrophysics and of celestial mechanics. The total staffs have been increased about ten-fold.