Glazenap, Sergei

Born Sept. 13 (25), 1848, in the village of Pavlov, Tver’ Province; died Apr. 12, 1937, in Leningrad. Soviet astronomer. Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1929). Hero of Labor (1932).

Glazenap graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1870. He completed his studies in Pulkovo and in Germany (1870-78). He worked at the University of St. Petersburg (Leningrad University) from 1877; he was a professor there from 1885 to 1924. Glazenap studied the motion of Jupiter’s moons (1871-82), pinpointed the constant of aberration, observed and calculated the orbits of binary stars (1882-97), and founded a simple and accurate graphic method for calculating the true orbit of stars by using the apparent one. He was one of the organizers of the Russian Astronomical Society in 1890 and then its president for many years. Glazenap was interested in the development of popular astronomy. In the last period of his life he worked on the problem of geodetic methods of oil-processing. He wrote many textbooks, as well as popular books, on astronomy and mathematics.