Valdemar Axel Firsoff FRAS was known principally as an

amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers m ...

. He was born on 29 January 1912 in

Bila Tserkva Bila Tserkva ( ; , ) is a city in central Ukraine. It is situated on the Ros (river), Ros River in the historical region of right-bank Ukraine. It is the largest city in Kyiv Oblast (which does not include the city of Kyiv) and serves as the ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, and died on 19 November 1981. He lived in

Lochearnhead Lochearnhead (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Loch Èireann) is a village in Perthshire on the A84 road, A84 Stirling to Crianlarich road at the foot of Glen Ogle, north of the Highland Boundary Fault. It is situated at the western end of Loch Earn where ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, before moving to

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, where he settled in

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

Biography

Axel Firsoff held an MA degree in languages and worked as a Swedish translator and in the

United Kingdom Patent Office The Intellectual Property Office of the United Kingdom (often referred to as the UK IPO) is, since 2 April 2007, the operating name of The Patent Office. It is the official government body responsible for intellectual property rights in the UK ...

. He was a keen

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

and

skier Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International ...

, as some of his earlier books reveal, and he was a ski instructor for the British Olympic Ski Team in the 1950s. He developed an interest in science, in particular

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

and

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

and this led him to publish numerous books on the moon and inner planets. Many of his books also touched on

extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life, or alien life (colloquially, aliens), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms ...

and the nature of the

mind The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...

. In ''Life, Mind and Galaxies'', he speculated that "mind seems to be an entity of the same order as energy and matter", an idea well before its time. Firsoff held unorthodox views, for example he did not believe in the

expansion of the universe The expansion of the universe is the increase in proper length, distance between Gravitational binding energy, gravitationally unbound parts of the observable universe with time. It is an intrinsic and extrinsic properties (philosophy), intrins ...

. In other aspects of his work, such as the nature of the

lunar craters Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon. The Moon's surface has many craters, all of which were formed by impacts. The International Astronomical Union currently recognizes 9,137 craters, of which 1,675 have been dated. History The wo ...

, which he considered to be of volcanic rather than cosmological origin, he was later proved to be well wide of the mark. In his book ''Strange World of the Moon'', Firsoff suggested that there are underground oceans on the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. Astronomer G. Fielder commented in the ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

'' magazine that most astronomers would not accept this view but as the book contains interesting new ideas it is recommended to all students of the moon. In a 1977 review for Firsoff's book ''The Solar Planets'' in the ''New Scientist'',

Ian Ridpath Ian William Ridpath (born 1 May 1947, in Ilford, Essex) is an English science writer and broadcaster best known as a popularizer of astronomy and a biographer of constellation history. As a UFO sceptic, he investigated and explained the Rendle ...

commented that "the author queries the now well-established 234-day rotation period of Venus, introduces the concept of superheated steam in that planet's atmosphere, and proposes seas at the Venusian poles. An inexperienced reader, seeking reliable information on our modern knowledge of the Solar System that the book promises, will not know that these views are unorthodox."

Honors

Firsoff crater, located in

Meridiani Planum Meridiani Planum (alternatively Terra Meridiani) is a large plain straddling the equator of Mars. The plain sits on top of an enormous body of sediments that contains bound water. The iron oxide in the spherules is crystalline (grey) hematite (Fe ...

on the

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, is named in Firsoff's honor. Firsoff Crater is located at 2.63° North, 350.58° East.

Selected publications

* ''Ski Track on the Battlefield'' - 1942 * ''The Tatra Mountains'' - 1942 * ''The Unity of Europe'' - 1947 * ''The Cairngorms on Foot and Ski'' - 1949 * ''Arran With Camera and Sketchbook'' - 1951 * ''Our Neighbor Worlds'' - 1953 * ''In the Hills of Breadalbane: Illustrated from the author's photos and drawings'' - 1954 * ''Moon Atlas'' - 1961 * ''The Surface of the Moon'' - 1961 * ''Strange World of the Moon'' - 1962 * ''The Crust Of The Earth'' - 1962 * ''Life Beyond the Earth: A Study in Exobiology'' - 1963 * ''Facing the Universe'' - 1966 * ''Life, Mind and Galaxies'' - 1967 * ''The Interior Planets'' - 1968 * ''The Old Moon and the New'' - 1969 * ''The World of Mars'' - 1969 * ''Gemstones of the British Isles'' - 1971 * ''Life among the Stars'' - 1974 * ''Working with Gemstones'' - 1974 * ''The Rockhound's Handbook'' - 1975 * ''The Solar Planets'' - 1977 * ''At the Crossroads of Knowledge'' - 1977 * ''The New Face of Mars'' - 1982

References

;Sources *

Patrick Moore Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (; 4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter. Moore's early interest in astro ...

(1982), Obituary, ''Quarterly Journal of the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

'', Volume 23, pp. 629–630. * Martin Mobberley (2018), The strange world of V. Axel Firsoff (1910−1981), ''Journal of the British Astronomical Association'', Volume 128, pp. 141–156. * Preface in ''Life, Mind and Galaxies'' (1967) * Second-hand book web-sites including

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Firsoff 1981 deaths 1910 births Amateur astronomers 20th-century British astronomers Soviet emigrants to the United Kingdom