Oskar Backlund
Johan Oskar Backlund ( born April 28, 1846 in Länghem, Sweden, .. † 16 Augustjul / August 29 1916greg in Pulkovo in St Petersburg ) was a Swedish- Russian astronomer.
Life
Backlund studied at Uppsala University mathematics and astronomy. He emigrated in 1876 to Russia at the observatory in Dorpat (Tartu ) and work from 1879 at the observatory in Pulkowa. From 1895 until his death he was director of the observatory in Pulkowa.
Backlund worked mainly in the field of celestial mechanics, especially perturbative calculations to the path of comet Encke, from which he derived also estimates of the mass of Mercury. From 1898 to 1900 he led from geodetic investigations in Spitsbergen.
His son Helge Backlund was a geology professor and his daughter Elsa Backlund Celsing (1880-1974) an artist.
Tributes
In 1883 he became a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1897, the Swedish Academy of Sciences, 1914, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1911 the Royal Society.
In 1909 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1914 and the Bruce Medal. According to him, the asteroid ( 856) Backlunda is named. He was also named for the moon crater Backlund.
Writings
- To develop the absolute failure of a Comet (1880 )
- For the development of the perturbing function (1884 )
- Studies on the Star Catalog " position Moyennes de 3,542 étoiles, déterminées à l'aide du cercle de méridien Poulkova dans les années 1840-69 et à l' époque réduites 1855 " (1886 )
- About the derivation of star catalogs contained in the eighth band of " Observations de Poulkova " together with a few studies on the Pulkowaer Meridian Circle (1888 )
- Notes on the occurrence of hyperelementären links in the perturbation theory (1888 )
- About some of Winnecke on Pulkowaer meridian circles employed in the years 1861-63 observations ( 1890)
- About the movement of a certain group of small planets ( 1892)
- Calculs et recherches sur la comète d' Encke (1892 ff.)