Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve

In 1808 he entered the university of Dorpat[?] (Yuriev), where he first studied philology, but soon turned his attention to astronomy. From 1813 to 1820 he was extraordinary professor of astronomy and mathematics at the new university and observer at the observatory, becoming in 1820 ordinary professor and director. He remained at Dorpat, occupied with researches on double stars and geodesy till 1839, when he removed to superintend the construction of the new central observatory at Pulkowa near St Petersburg, afterwards becoming director. Here he continued his activity until he was obliged to retire in 1861, owing to failing health.

Struve's name is best known by his observations of double stars, which he carried on for many years. These bodies had first been regularly measured by W Herschel, who discovered that many of them formed systems of two stars revolving round their common centre of gravity. After him J Herschel (and for some time Sir James South[?]) had observed them, but their labours were eclipsed by Struve. With the 91/2-in, refractor at Dorpat he discovered a great number of double stars, and published in 1827 a list of all the known objects of this kind (Catalogus novus stellarum duplicium). His micrometric measurements of 2714 double stars were made from 1824 to 1837, and are contained in his principal work, Stellarum duplicium et multiplicium mensurae micrometricae (St Petersburg, 1837 seq.; a convenient summary of the results is given in vol. i. of the Dunecht Observatory Publications, 1876). The places of the objects were at the same time determined with the Dorpat meridian circle (Stellarum fixarum imprimis duplicium et multiplicium positiones mediae, St Petersburg, 1852 seq.).

At Pulkowa he redetermined the "constant of aberration," but was chiefly occupied in working out the results of former years' work and in the completion of the geodetic operations in which he had been engaged during the greater part of his life. He had commenced them with a survey of Livonia (1816-1819),--which was followed by the measurement of an arc of meridian of more than 31/8° in the Baltic provinces of Russia (Beschreibung der Breztengrahlmessung in den Ostseeprovinzen Russlands, 2 vols. 4to, Dorpat, 1831). This work was afterwards extended by Struve and General Tenner into a measurement of a meridional arc from the north coast of Norway to Ismail on the Danube (Arc du méridien de 2f° 20' entre le Danube et la Mer Glaciate, 2 vols. and I vol. plates, 4to, St Petersburg, 1857-1860).

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.