Ivanov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

Born Apr. 4 (16), 1867, in St. Petersburg; died Nov. 23, 1939, in Leningrad. Soviet astronomer. Specialist in celestial mechanics and practical astronomy. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1925).

In 1889, Ivanov graduated from the University of St. Petersburg, where he was a professor from 1908 to 1929. From 1890 to 1901 he was an astronomer at the Pulkovo Observatory, becoming its director in 1919 and serving in this capacity until 1930. Ivanov investigated the variations in the latitude of the Pulkovo Observatory, worked out a theory of the earth’s shape and studied the distribution of the force of gravity on its surface, and investigated the motions of asteroids and comets. Ivanov generalized his pedagogical experience in a series of university courses in basic fields of astronomy. He was chairman of the Russian Astronomical Society (1906–10, 1913).