Alexander Nikolaevich Deutsch (Aleksandr Nikolaevič Dejč; russian: Александр Николаевич Дейч; December 31, 1899 – 22 November 1986) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

who worked at

Pulkovo Observatory The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (russian: Пулковская астрономическая обсерватория, Pulkovskaya astronomicheskaya observatoriya), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academ ...

. Deutsch was born in the night from December 31, 1899, to January 1, 1900, in the Bessarabian town of Reni in a family of

Volga German The Volga Germans (german: Wolgadeutsche, ), russian: поволжские немцы, povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov ...

(on his father's side), Greek and Romanian (on his mother's side) descent.The Dovatur Family
When he was a small child, the family moved to

Ryazan Ryazan ( rus, Рязань, p=rʲɪˈzanʲ, a=ru-Ryazan.ogg) is the largest city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Cens ...

and then to Saratov. He was graduated from the

Sankt Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

University (Russia). He was an adjoint director of the Pulkovo Observatory prior World War II and the director of the Pulkovo Observatory during the blockade of Leningrad. Subsequently, he was the head of the astrometry section of the Pulkovo Observatory and the founder of the astrometric school of that observatory. He was active 1935–1985 as A. N. Deutsch (A. Deutsch published starting in 1926 and could be the same person). He discovered one asteroid (the Minor Planet Center lists him as A. Deutsch). His main scientific contributions refer to stars' proper motions in selected Kapteyn surfaces, astrophotography of galaxies and stars, brown dwarfs, astronomical calculations of the coordinates of warships, eclipses and asteroids photography. A number of papers were signed as Deich. Deutsch (Deich) was а president of the IAU Astrometry commission. The asteroid Reni, discovered by L. S. Chernyh, was named in honor of A. N. Deutsch (Deich).

Papers

ADS NASA

References

External links

Biography from the website of Pulkovo observatory (in Russian)

Gaina Alex: A.N. Deutsch (Deich) - 110 years of Birthday (Biography and Bibliography)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deutsch, Alexander 1899 births 1986 deaths People from Odesa Oblast Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour * Discoverers of minor planets Soviet people of German descent Soviet people of Greek descent Soviet people of Romanian descent Soviet astronomers