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STRUVE, FRIEDRICH GEORG WILHELM (1793...

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 1045 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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STRUVE, See also:FRIEDRICH GEORG WILHELM (1793-1864) , See also:German astronomer, the son of See also:Jacob Struve (1755-1841), was See also:born at See also:Altona on the 15th of See also:April 1793. In 18o8 he entered the university of Dorpat (See also:Yuriev), where he first studied See also:philology, but soon turned his See also:attention to See also:astronomy. From 1813 to 182o he was extraordinary See also:professor of astronomy and See also:mathematics at the new university and observer at the See also:observatory, becoming in 1820 See also:ordinary professor and director. He remained at Dorpat, occupied with researches on See also:double stars and See also:geodesy till 1839, when he removed to superintend the construction of the new central observatory at Pulkowa near St See also:Petersburg, afterwards becoming director. Here he continued his activity until he was obliged to retire in 1861, owing to failing See also:health. He died at St Petersburg on the 23rd of See also:November 1864. Struve's name is best known by his observations of double stars, which he carried on for many years. These bodies had first been regularly measured by W. See also:Herschel, who discovered that many of them formed systems of two stars revolving See also:round their See also:common centre of gravity. After him J. Herschel (and for some See also:time See also:Sir See also:James See also:South) had observed them, but their labours were eclipsed by Struve. With the 91-in. refractor at Dorpat he discovered a See also:great number of double stars, and published in 1827 a See also:list of all the known See also:objects of this See also:kind (Catalogus novus stellarum duplictum).

His micrometric measurements of 2714 double stars were made from 1824 to 1837, and are contained in his See also:

principal See also:work, Stellarum duplicium et multiplicium mensurae micrometricae (St Petersburg, 1837 seq.; a convenient See also:summary of the results is given in vol. i. of the Dunecht Observatory Publications, 1876). The places of the objects were at the same time determined with the Dorpat See also:meridian circle (Stellarum fixarum imprimis duplicium et multiplicium positiones mediae, St Petersburg, 1852 seq.). At Pulkowa he redetermined the " See also:constant of See also:aberration,' but was chiefly occupied in working out the results of former years' work and in the completion of the See also:geodetic operations in which he had been engaged during the greater See also:part of his See also:life. He had commenced them with a survey of See also:Livonia (1816-1819),. which was followed by the measurement of an arc of meridian of more than 31° in the Baltic provinces of See also:Russia (Beschreibung der Breitengrallmessung in den Ostseeprovinsen Russlands, 2 vols. 4to, Dorpat, 1831). This work was afterwards extended by Struve and See also:General Teener into a measurement of a meridional arc from the See also:north See also:coast of See also:Norway to See also:Ismail on the See also:Danube (Arc du mEridien de 25° 2o' entre le Danube et la Mer Glaciale, 2 vols. and 1 vol. plates, 4t0, St Petersburg, 1857-186o). (See GEODESY ; See also:EARTH, FIGURE OF.) His son See also:OTTO WILHELM STRUVE (b. 1819), having studied indicated in paralyses (chiefly functional), and is most valuable in at the See also:academy at St Petersburg, became assistant at Pulkowa in 1839, and director in 1862 on his See also:father's resignation. From 1847 to 1862 he was advising astronomer to the headquarters of the See also:army and See also:navy; chairman of the See also:International Astronomical See also:Congress from 1867-1878; acting See also:president of the International Metric See also:Commission in 1872; and president of the International Congress for a Photographic Survey of the Stars in 1887, in which See also:year he was also made a privy councillor. His contributions to astronomy See also:cover a wide See also:field: a list of his publications is given in Poggendorfi, Biographisch-Litterarische, vols. 2, 3, 4. Another son, HEINRICH WILHELM STRUVE (b.

1822), studied See also:

chemistry, and obtained a public See also:appointment as chemical See also:expert to the See also:administration of the See also:Caucasus. Two of Otto Wilhelm Struve's sons have also been prominent in the See also:world of See also:science. KARL See also:HERMANN STRUVE (b. 1854) studied mathematics at Dorpat, and became in 1883 assistant, and in 189o, on his father's retirement, astronomer at the observatory at Pulkowa. In 1895 he became professor at the Albertus University and director of the observatory at See also:Konigsberg; and in 1904 he was called to See also:Berlin as professor and director of the observatory there. His investigation of the Saturnian See also:system was crowned by the Royal Astronomical Society of See also:London in 1903. GUSTAV WILHELM See also:LUDWIG STRUVE (b. 1858) studied at Dorpat, See also:Bonn and See also:Leipzig, and became observer at the Dorpat observatory in 1886. This See also:post he retained until 1894, when he migrated to the university of See also:Cracow as extraordinary professor, becoming in 1897 ordinary professor of astronomy and geodesy.

End of Article: STRUVE, FRIEDRICH GEORG WILHELM (1793-1864)

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