Klim Ivanovich Churyumov (; 19 February 1937 – 14 October 2016) was a Soviet and Ukrainian

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

."I always repeat that I am Ukrainian. For me this is a fundamental question... I was very hurt when I called Russian or Soviet scientists",
Клим ЧУРЮМОВ: «Ми зоряні люди і повинні дотримуватися законів всесвіту»
/ref> He was the director of the

Kyiv Planetarium Kyiv Planetarium (previously ''Republican Planetarium''; ) in Kyiv, Ukraine is one of the largest Planetarium, planetaria in former Soviet states. Opened on January 1, 1952, by the initiative of the scientist-astronomer Serhiy Vsekhsviatskiy (190 ...

, a member of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; , ; ''NAN Ukrainy'') is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine that is the main center of development of Science and technology in Ukraine, science and technology by coordinatin ...

and the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

, of the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), originally founded as the Lyceum of Natural History in January 1817, is a nonprofit professional society based in New York City, with more than 20,000 members from 100 countries. It is the fourth-oldes ...

, the editor of the magazine ''Our Skies'' () in 2006–2009, the president of the Ukrainian Society of amateur astronomy and the author of books for children. In 1969, he discovered, with Svetlana Gerasimenko, the comet

67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (abbreviated as 67P or 67P/C–G) is a Jupiter-family comet. It is originally from the Kuiper belt and has an orbital period of 6.45 years as of 2012, a rotation period of approximately 12.4 hours, and a maximum velo ...

; on 12 November 2014, the ''

Rosetta Rosetta ( ) or Rashid (, ; ) is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Rosetta Stone was discovered there in 1799. Founded around the 9th century on the site of the ancient town of Bolbitine, R ...

'' space mission landed its ''Philae'' spacecraft on its surface.

Biography

He was the fourth of eight children of Ivan Ivanovich Churyumov and Antonina Mikhailovna Churyumova (b. 1907). His father was declared dead during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1942. In 1949 Churyumov's family moved from Nikolayev to

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. After seventh grade, he entered the Kyiv Railway College, graduating with honors in 1955. He received a recommendation for admission to higher education. He entered the Physics Department of Kyiv State University. During his third year of study, he was disappointed to be assigned to the faculty of optics, instead of theoretical physics. However, he continued to attend lectures on theoretical physics, even though the authorities disapproved, and he was eventually moved to the faculty of astronomy, where there were vacant places. After his graduation in 1960, he was sent to the polar geophysical station at

Tiksi Bay Tiksi Bay (, ''Bukhta Tiksi'') is a bay of the Laptev Sea that cuts into the northern part of the Sakha Republic, Russia. History This bay was first surveyed by Russian Arctic explorer Dmitry Laptev in 1739. It was then called "Gorely Bay". The na ...

in the Yakut ASSR. There he studied the

aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, earth currents and

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays ...

. In 1962, he returned to Kyiv and went to work at the plant "Arsenal", where he participated in the development of optical components for the Soviet military and space programs. After finishing postgraduate studies at Kyiv State University (specialty "astrophysics", under supervision of professor

Sergej Vsekhsvyatskij Sergius is a male given name of Ancient Roman origin after the name of the Latin ''gens'' Sergia or Sergii of regal and republican ages. It is a common Christian name, in honour of Saint Sergius, or in Kyivan Rus', of Sergius of the Holy Caves ...

), he continued working as Fellow at the Department of Astronomy at university. As part of his work he observed the comets at the astronomical observatory of Kyiv University in the village Lisniki (in

Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast (, ), also called Kyivshchyna (, ), is an Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, which is administered as a city with special sta ...

) as well during astronomical expeditions in the highlands of Central Asia, the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, the

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

, in Chukotka and

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

. In 1969 the University equipped an expedition of three people, including Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko, for surveillance of periodic comets in Alma-Ata astrophysical observatory, part of what is now the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute. In 1972 he defended his first post-graduate scientific degree with thesis "Studies of comets Ikeya-Seki (1967n), Honda (1968c), Tago-Sato-Kosaka (1969g) and new periodic comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko from photographic observations." In 1993 he defended his doctoral thesis on "Evolutionary physical processes in comets" at the Institute of Space Research, RAS (Moscow). Beginning in 1998 Churyumov was a professor at

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

. In January 2004 he was appointed as director of the educational center

. Churyumov died in the night of 13–14 October 2016 in hospital in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Honors

Awards *

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

in 2009 Named after him *Periodic comet

*Non-periodic comet C/1986 N1 Churyumov–Solodovnikov *Asteroid 2627 Churyumov *Minor planet 3942 Churivannia was found and named by

Nikolai Chernykh Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Черны́х, , nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnɨx, links=yes; 6 October 1931 – 25 May 2004Казакова, Р.К. Памяти Николая Сте ...

after the two Ivan Ivanovich Churyumovs, Klim Churyumov's brother and father *Minor planet 6646 Churanta was found and named by

Eleanor F. Helin Eleanor Francis "Glo" Helin (née Francis, 19 November 1932 – 25 January 2009) was an American astronomer. She was principal investigator of the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (Some sources gi ...

after Churyumov's mother. *In December 2022 a street in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

was named after Churyumov

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Churyumov, Klim 1937 births 2016 deaths Burials at Baikove Cemetery Soviet cosmologists Discoverers of comets 20th-century Ukrainian inventors Ukrainian astronomers Soviet inventors Soviet astronomers People from Mykolaiv Corresponding members of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine