Mikhail Pavlovich Vronchenko
Vronchenko, Mikhail Pavlovich
Born 1801 or 1802 in Kopys’, in present-day Vitebsk Oblast; died Oct. 14 (26), 1855, in Kharkov. Russian geodesist and major general.
Vronchenko studied at Moscow University, but without graduating he joined the military service. From 1828 through 1833 he conducted topographical surveys and determined astronomical points in Moldavia, Walachia, and Rumania. During 1834-36, Vronchenko worked in Turkey; he compiled A Survey of Asia Minor in Its Present Condition (parts 1-2, 1838-40). He also directed triangulation projects in the Novorossiiskii region (1848-54). Vronchenko is well-known as a translator of the works of Byron, Goethe, and Shakespeare into Russian.