Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Mikhailov (April 26, 1888 – September 29, 1983) was a Russian astronomer who was a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He worked at

Pulkovo Observatory The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Pulkovo, is the principal astronomical observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is located 19 km south ...

from 1947 to 1982. He was its director until 1964 and is credited with leading its post-war revival after the fall of Leningrad.

Career

Born April 26, 1888, in

Morshansk Morshansk () is a town in Tambov Oblast, Russia, located on the Tsna River ( Oka's basin) north of Tambov. Population: 44,000 (1970). History The exact origins of Morshansk are unknown; however, documents mention a populated place in this ...

, one of Mikhailov's first published papers concerned the appearance of Halley's comet.Kabalakin, V. "Obituary - Mikhailov, Alexander-Alexandrovich," ''Royal Astron. Soc. Quart. Journal'', V.26, NO.3, September 1985, p. 365. After Josef Stalin ordered the reconstruction of the

, after having ordered its destruction, Mikhailov played a pivotal in the work leading up to its official reopening in May 1954. Its research mission included observing and forecasting solar activity as well as various projects that could take advantage of the radio astronomy instruments. Mikhailov's opinion on a wide variety of astronomy topics was sought throughout his career. In 1959, he was quoted in a ''Time'' article about Soviet Moon exploration by

Luna 3 Luna 3, or E-2A No.1 (), was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1959 as part of the Luna programme. It was the first mission to photograph the far side of the Moon and the third Soviet space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of the Moon. The hi ...

, which sent photographs of the Moon to Earth via radio transmission. "The next step in lunar exploration," he said in the interview, "would be to land a station on the moon without damaging the instruments". He had weighed in that same year on the Cold War space race, stating that "The biggest problem," for

human space exploration Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

, he told a ''Time'' reporter in January of that same year, "is safe return, and they do not intend to risk a man until they are sure of getting him back alive". In addition to his career as an astronomer, he translated many key scientific works into Russian. Colleagues remembered him as "open-hearted and honest and demanded the same of others".

Personal life and legacy

Mikhailov married Zdenka J. Kadla in 1946. She was also an astronomer who worked at the observatory and published work about the Moon. The couple had one son. He had a passion for optical devices and reportedly had a large collection of photographic equipment. He is remembered as being conversant in a wide number of subjects including music, literature, and art. Mikhailov died in his home at the observatory. The asteroid

1910 Mikhailov 1910 Mikhailov, provisional designation , is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. Discovered at Nauchnyj in 1972, it was named after Russian astronomer Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Mikhai ...

, discovered by

Lyudmila Zhuravlyova Lyudmila Vasilyevna Zhuravleva (, ; born 22 May 1946) is a Soviet, Russian and Ukrainian astronomer, who worked at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnij, where she discovered 213 minor planets. She also serves as president of the Cr ...

was named in his honor. It is a main-belt asteroid. He died on September 29, 1983, aged 95.

References

* ''Evaluating Soviet Lunar Science in Cold War America'', Ronald E. Doel, Osiris, 2nd Series, Vol. 7, Science after '40 (1992), pp. 238–264 * ''Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers'', edited by Hockey, Trimble, et al., Springer (2007), p. 781 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mikhailov, Aleksandr 1888 births 1983 deaths People from Morshansk Soviet astronomers Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Russian translators