Sergei Savinov

Born June 17 (29), 1865, in Moscow; died in February 1942 in Leningrad. Soviet meteorologist and actinometrist. Honored Worker in Science and Technology of the RSFSR (1934).

Savinov graduated from Moscow University in 1889. In 1891 he joined the staff of the Main Physical (since 1924, Geophysical) Observatory. Beginning in 1897, he took part in organizing a network of meteorological stations in Russia and a system of atmospheric observations using sounding balloons and free aerostats. In 1900 he began working on methods for observing scattered and direct solar and terrestrial radiation. He also created new designs for such instruments as actinographs, pyra-nometers, and pyrgeometers. Savinov collected and evaluated data from actinometric observations in Russia and organized scientific expeditions to the Crimea, Middle Asia, Ararat, and the Tien-Shan. At his initiative, continuous actinometric observations were begun in Pavlovsk in 1912.