Ganskii, Aleksei
Ganskii, Aleksei Pavlovich
Born July 20 (Aug. 1), 1870, in Odessa; died July 29 (Aug. 11), 1908, in Simeiz. Russian astronomer, geodesist, and specialist in gravimetry.
From 1905, Ganskii worked as an astronomer at the Pul-kovo Observatory. He took part in expeditions to Novaia Zemlia, Spain, and Middle Asia to observe total solar eclipses. He sponsored the founding of the Simeiz branch of the Pulkovo Observatory (1908). Ganskii ascended Mont Blanc nine times and made several balloon flights; he obtained excellent-quality photographs of sunspots and established a relationship between the form of the sun’s corona and the number of sunspots. He was a member of Russian expeditions to Spitzbergen (1899-1901) for degree measurements and the determination of acceleration due to gravity.