Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve
Wilhelm Struve (Cyrillic Василий Яковлевич Струве; born April 15, 1793 in Altona, .. † 11.jul / November 23 1864greg in Pulkovo in St Petersburg ) was a German astronomer and surveyor who worked in the Baltics and Russia. He has published, among others significant work on double stars and carried out extensive geodetic surveying.
He is also, or (since 1831) called Wilhelm Friedrich Wilhelm Struve Struve, and was the father of Otto Struve, who also was an astronomer and his successor at the Pulkovo Observatory.
Life and work
William was the son of Jacob Struve in Holstein Altona / Elbe. His brother was later a professor of medicine Ludwig Struve.
1808, at the age of 15 years, William began studying at the University of Dorpat ( now Tartu ) in Estonia, which belonged to Russia at the time. He studied philology, but switched after a few semesters of mathematics and astronomy. The study concluded Struve in 1813 with the PhD. from. In the same year he was hired as an associate professor of astronomy and Observer at the Observatory of the University of Dorpat. In 1815 he married in Altona Emilie Wall ( 1796-1834 ). The couple had twelve children, of whom but four died young.
1818 Full Professor Struve, 1820 was appointed director of the observatory of Dorpat. From 1814 to 1821 he also taught mathematics. 1824 a very powerful refractor by Fraunhofer 24.4 cm opening was put into operation in Dorpat. In the aftermath Struve conducted extensive observations of double stars, where he discovered a large number. From 1824 to 1837 he undertook micrometric measurements on 2,714 double stars. In 1827 he published a catalog of double stars, the Catalogus novus Stellarum duplicium 1837 appeared his work Stellarum duplicium et multiplicium mensurae micrometricae.
When in 1828 his brother Ludwig died, he took his ward, the later philologists Theodor Struve, to his Dorpat. 1829 Struve became the " Kollegienrat " and nominated two years later for " Real State ". With this promotion, a survey was connected to the peerage.
In addition to astronomy, Struve dealt with the geodesy. From 1816 to 1819 he had participated in a triangulation of Livonia. In 1831 he published a description of the latitude measurements in the Baltic provinces of Russia.
1834 his wife died. In the same year he married Johanna Bartels ( 1807-1867 ), the daughter of the German mathematician Martin Bartels; with her he had six more children.
1832 had called the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg Struve as a full member. Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve worked as director of the observatory of Dorpat ( now Tartu in Estonia). When in 1839 the new observatory was inaugurated in Pulkovo, Struve was appointed to her first director. Here he continued his studies of double stars, which supported him his son Otto. In 1843 he determined the Earth's atmosphere caused by the aberration of light and the parallax of the bright star Vega in the constellation Lyra.
After lengthy preparations Struve 1845 helped considerably to establish the Russian Geographical Society. He initiated an extensive triangulation, where he built together with Carl Tenner a chain of geodetic survey points between Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, the Struve Geodetic Arc.
In 1847 he published studies on the structure of the Milky Way in the Études d' astronomy stellaire.
1856 Struve was promoted to Privy Councillor.
In 1862 he resigned for health reasons in retirement. The management of the Pulkovo Observatory, his son Otto Struve.
Wilhelm Struve died on 11.jul. / November 23 1864greg. in Pulkovo and was buried at the public cemetery adjoining the observatory.
Honors
For his work he received numerous honors were bestowed. He received the 1826 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. The Royal Society awarded him the Royal Medal in 1827. In 1851 him the Prussian order Pour le Mérite was awarded for science and arts.
To commemorate the astronomers of the Struve family an impact crater on the Moon and the asteroid ( 768) Struveana were named.
Descendants
(see also Main article Struve )
His marriage to his first wife gave the world:
- Otto von Struve (1819-1905), Astronomer
- Heinrich Wilhelm von Struve (1822-1908), Chemist
- Bernhard Wilhelm von Struve (1827-1889), Governor of Astrakhan and Perm.
From the second marriage was born:
- Karl Wilhelm ( Cyril Wassiliwitsch ) Struve ( 1835-1907 ), later Russian ambassador to Japan, the USA and the Netherlands.
His grandson Pyotr Struve Berngardowitsch (son of Bernhard Wilhelm von Struve ) is perhaps the best known member of the family in Russia. He was one of the first Russian Marxists and wrote in 1898 the Manifesto of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party. Later he joined the camp and represented the party of Constitutional Democracy in the Duma. During the Russian Civil War he joined the White Guards and was a minister under Peter von Wrangel and Denikin. Later, he went into exile in Paris.
His descendants include the astronomers
- Hermann von Struve (1854-1920), grandson
- Ludwig von Struve (1858-1920), grandson
- Otto von Struve (1897-1963), great-grandson
Works (selection)
- Observationes astronomicas ... Dorpatensis ( Dorpat, 1817-39, 8 volumes)
- Catalogus novus Stellarum duplicium et multiplicium ( Dorpat, 1827)
- Stellarum duplicium et multiplicium mensurae micrometricae (St. Petersburg, 1837)
- Etudes d' astronomy stellaire (St. Petersburg, 1847)
- Stellarum fixarum Imprimis duplicium et multiplicium positiones mediae (St. Petersburg, 1852)