Our navigation bar is loading . . .

Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.

Do you need volunteer, community service, work, military or court hours?

Click here and add this page to your favorites!

Encyclopedia Britannica

STRUVE, FRIEDRICH GEORG WILHELM (1793-1864)

This article appears in Volume V25, Page 1045 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: STE-SUS

STRUVE, FRIEDRICH GEORG WILHELM (1793-1864) , German astronomer, the son of Jacob Struve (1755-1841), was born at Altona on the 15th of April 1793. In 18o8 he entered the university of Dorpat (Yuriev), where he first studied philology, but soon turned his attention to astronomy. From 1813 to 182o he was extraordinary professor of astronomy and mathematics at the new university and observer at the

observatory

OBSERVATORY

, becoming in 1820

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

professor and director. He remained at Dorpat, occupied with researches on

double

stars and geodesy till 1839, when he removed to superintend the construction of the new central

observatory

OBSERVATORY

at Pulkowa near St

Petersburg

PETERSBURG

, afterwards becoming director. Here he continued his activity until he was obliged to retire in 1861, owing to failing health. He died at St

Petersburg

PETERSBURG

on the 23rd of 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. Herschel, who discovered that many of them formed systems of two stars revolving round their common centre of gravity. After him J. Herschel (and for some time Sir James South) had observed them, but their labours were eclipsed by Struve. With the 91-in. refractor at Dorpat he discovered a

great

GREAT

number of double stars, and published in 1827 a

list

LIST (O.E.
lisle
- LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)
, a Teutonic word, cf. Dut. lust, Ger. Leiste, adapted in Ital. lista and Fr.
lisle
- LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)
)
LIST, FRIEDRICH (1789-1846)

of all the known objects of this kind (Catalogus novus stellarum duplictum). His micrometric measurements of 2714 double stars were made from 1824 to 1837, and are contained in his principal

work

WORK

, Stellarum duplicium et multiplicium mensurae micrometricae (St Petersburg, 1837 seq.; a convenient 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 meridian circle (Stellarum fixarum imprimis duplicium et multiplicium positiones mediae, St Petersburg, 1852 seq.). At Pulkowa he redetermined the " constant of aberration,' but was chiefly occupied in working out the results of former years'

work

WORK

and in the completion of the geodetic operations in which he had been engaged during the greater part of his life. He had commenced them with a survey of Livonia (1816-1819),. which was followed by the measurement of an arc of meridian of more than 31 in the Baltic provinces of Russia (Beschreibung der Breitengrallmessung in den Ostseeprovinsen Russlands, 2 vols. 4to, Dorpat, 1831). This work was afterwards extended by Struve and General Teener into a measurement of a meridional arc from the north coast of Norway to Ismail on the 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 ; EARTH, FIGURE OF.)
His son OTTO WILHELM STRUVE (b. 1819), having studied indicated in paralyses (chiefly functional), and is most valuable in at the

academy

ACADEMY, GREEK
ACADEMY, ROYAL

at St Petersburg, became assistant at Pulkowa
in 1839, and director in 1862 on his father's resignation. From 1847 to 1862 he was advising astronomer to the headquarters of the army and navy; chairman of the International Astronomical Congress from 1867-1878; acting president of the International Metric Commission in 1872; and president of the International Congress for a Photographic Survey of the Stars in 1887, in which year he was also made a privy councillor. His contributions to astronomy cover a wide field: a

list

of his publications is given in Poggendorfi, Biographisch-Litterarische, vols. 2, 3, 4.
Another son, HEINRICH WILHELM STRUVE (b. 1822), studied chemistry, and obtained a public appointment as chemical expert to the administration of the Caucasus.
Two of Otto Wilhelm Struve's sons have also been prominent in the world of science. KARL 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 Konigsberg; and in 1904 he was called to Berlin as professor and director of the observatory there. His investigation of the Saturnian system was crowned by the Royal Astronomical Society of London in 1903. GUSTAV WILHELM LUDWIG STRUVE (b. 1858) studied at Dorpat, Bonn and

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, and became observer at the Dorpat observatory in 1886. This post he retained until 1894, when he migrated to the university of Cracow as extraordinary professor, becoming in 1897

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

professor of astronomy and geodesy.

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

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/STE_SUS/STRUVE_FRIEDRICH_GEORG_WILHELM.html">
STRUVE, FRIEDRICH GEORG WILHELM (1793-1864)
</a>

(Previous)
STRUTT, JEDEDIAH (1726-1797)

(Next)
STRYCHNINE

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email