Pavel Karlovich Sternberg. Sternberg, Pavel Karlovich Pavel Karlovich Sternberg

15.01.2024

Pavel Karlovich Sternberg - Soviet astronomer, revolutionary and statesman, member of the Communist Party since 1905.

P.K. Sternberg was born in the city of Orel. Even in his high school years, he became interested in astronomy. In 1887, he graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, and was a student of F. A. Bredikhin. After graduating from the university, P. K. Sternberg was invited to work at the observatory of Moscow University, and in 1916 he became the director of this observatory. P.K. Sternberg was a professor at Moscow University from 1914. Being a champion of higher women's education in Russia, since 1901 he taught at the Higher Women's Courses.

Until February 1917, no one at the university observatory, where P.K. Sternberg lived and worked, knew that he was an active member of the Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party, the head of its Military Technical Bureau, which was preparing an armed uprising. Sternberg took an active part in the Great October Socialist Revolution, was a member of the Central Headquarters of the Red Guard, and led the workers’ fighting in Zamoskvorechye.

After the October Revolution, P.K. Sternberg participated in the development of regulations on higher education, which widely opened the doors to people from the people. During the Civil War, he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Eastern Front.

In the field of astronomy, P. K. Sternberg contributed important innovative works on three scientific problems. He studied the movement of the earth's poles, which causes changes in the latitudes of various places on earth. He was one of the first to use photography for precise measurements in astronomy (especially for the study of double stars). Sternberg paid a lot of attention to work on determining the force of gravity (gravimetry) in different places in European Russia. These works are of great practical importance: they help discover mineral deposits. Now such research has unfolded on the territory of our country on a huge scale.

In 1931, the name of P. K. Sternberg was given to the Astronomical Institute at Moscow University. Asteroid No. 995 was named Sternberg.

Born in the city of Orel into a family of immigrants from Germany who belonged to commoners. Father - Karl Andreevich Sternberg, a subject of the Duchy of Brunswick, was an Oryol merchant.

In 1883, Pavel Sternberg graduated from the Oryol classical gymnasium.

Moscow University (1883-1887)

In the same year, 1883, he entered the mathematical department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University and moved to Moscow. At the university, Pavel Sternberg became one of the best students of the outstanding astronomer Professor F.A. Bredikhin.

In 1887, Pavel Sternberg was awarded the department's gold medal for his student scientific work “On the duration of rotation of the Red Spot of Jupiter.” In May of the same year he graduated from the university.

In the summer of the same year, Pavel Sternberg participated in the expedition of the Moscow Observatory to Yuryevets to observe the total solar eclipse on August 19, 1887. In addition to him, the eclipse was observed by A. A. Belopolsky, as well as L. Nysten from Brussels and G. Vogel from Potsdam.

At the Astronomical Observatory

Less than a year later, in March 1888, he was appointed supernumerary assistant at the Astronomical Observatory and remained at the university to prepare for the professorship.

Since 1890 - private assistant professor at the university. In the same year, he was confirmed as an astronomer-observer at the Moscow University Observatory.

In 1899-1900 he headed the Commission for the development of an astronomy program for secondary schools.

Underground activities (1905-1908)

After the events of 1905 in Russia, Sternberg secretly joined the RSDLP (b) and became involved in underground work in the military-technical bureau of the Moscow party committee for preparing an armed uprising.

However, during the days of the uprising itself, Sternberg was not in Moscow. He was on a business trip abroad and returned only at the beginning of 1906, after the suppression of the uprising. Upon his return, he became involved in the work of the Bolshevik organization.

While remaining an astronomer at the observatory, Sternberg carried out instructions for the Bolshevik Party. So, he was tasked with preserving the weapons left behind after the December Uprising, and part of it was stored for a long time in the observatory.

In the second half of 1906, in the military-technical bureau of the RSDLP (b) Sternberg was responsible for drawing up a strategic map of Moscow in the event of a new armed uprising and training command personnel to lead the combat operations of workers' detachments during the uprising. In 1907, he carried out a bold undertaking to photograph a detailed plan of Moscow.

Deputy of the Moscow City Duma

In 1908, in the elections to the Moscow City Duma, Pavel Karlovich was elected as a member of the Bolshevik list.

Since 1914 - extraordinary professor at Moscow University, and since 1917 - ordinary professor.

In 1916, 51-year-old Pavel Karlovich headed the Krasnopresnenskaya Observatory.

In January 1917 he was elected ordinary professor of astronomy at Moscow University.

Revolutionary 1917

In March, I attended a meeting in the Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party on the creation of armed detachments.

On April 3 (16), 1917, Sternberg was present at the ceremonial meeting of Lenin, who had returned to Russia, organized by the Petrograd Soviet at the Finlyandsky Station. I listened to his speech. Straight from the meeting he went to the first All-Russian Astronomical Congress, where he was elected chairman for his scientific works.

In April, at the next meeting of the Moscow Committee, Sternberg made a report “On the Police.” The congress was attended by Felix Dzerzhinsky, Grigory Usievich, Rosalia Zemlyachka and others. In reality, it was about organizing the Red Guard, about arming the Moscow workers.

At the observatory, a map of Moscow emerged from the refractor tube. The Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party made copies of it and distributed it to all district cells.

According to J. Pece, in July an operational headquarters of the Red Guard was created to prepare for the uprising. This headquarters carried out significant work on drawing up a strategic plan for the uprising. Sternberg handed over to the command of the Red Guard maps of Moscow, compiled and stored by him in the underground archive.

At the end of October 1917, during the days of the uprising in Moscow, the combat party center allocated by the Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party appointed Sternberg as the representative of the party center of the uprising in the Zamoskvoretsky district. This was the most powerful proletarian area and it was from there that the shelling of the Kremlin was supposed to begin.

The Bolsheviks of Zamoskvorechye set out at dawn on October 28. The Zamoskvoretsky district was mainly tasked with capturing the headquarters of the Moscow Military District (Prechistenka). Zamoskvorechye played a major role in the seizure of the Kremlin and the Alexander School. On the initiative and under his leadership, Sternberg carried out artillery shelling of the Kremlin. Capturing the Kremlin was the main task of the Military Revolutionary Committee

In November 1917, he was appointed military provincial commissar of Moscow.

After the revolution (1918-1920)

In January 1918, the provincial commissioner and professor of the Higher Women's Courses, Pavel Sternberg, issued a security certificate to the collections of the Darwin Museum “of great scientific value.”

In March 1918, concurrently, he was appointed a member of the Board of the People's Commissariat of Education and head of the higher education department.

In November-December 1919, he took part in leading the combat operations of the 3rd and 5th armies of the Eastern Front of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army to capture Omsk.

During the crossing of the Irtysh, Sternberg became seriously ill. He was taken to Moscow, where he died on the night of January 31 to February 1, 1920.

He was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Family

Wife - Yakovleva, Varvara Nikolaevna (1884-1941), revolutionary, Soviet statesman.

Scientific works

Scientific works relate to the study of the rotational motion of the Earth, photographic astronomy, and gravimetry. For his gravimetric determinations at a number of points in the European part of Russia with the Repsold pendulum, he received a medal from the Russian Geographical Society. In 1892-1903. carried out a major study “The latitude of the Moscow Observatory in connection with the movement of the poles.”

Sternberg's photographic observations of binary stars were among the first rigorous attempts in science to use photographic techniques to accurately measure the relative positions of star pairs. The hundreds of photographs of double stars and other objects he obtained still serve as good material for special research.

In 1913, Sternberg was awarded the degree of Doctor of Astronomy in connection with the defense of his dissertation “Some applications of photography to precise measurements in astronomy.”

Memory

Since 1931, the State Astronomical Institute of Moscow University has been named after P.K. Sternberg.

The lunar crater and the minor planet 995 Sternberga (1923 NP) are named after P.K. Sternberg.

Sternberg P.K. - b. in Orel, in the family of a fairly prosperous railway contractor. buildings.

While still in high school, he developed an interest in scientific work in the field of astronomy, and, as a high school student, he spent many nights studying the starry sky. After graduating from high school, he entered Moscow University to study physics and mathematics. faculty and chooses astronomy as his specialty.

Forced to live solely on his earnings from lessons (he earned up to 20 rubles a month), he nevertheless quickly stood out among the students and became Bredikhin's outstanding student.

While still a student, he worked at the Moscow Astronomical Institute. observatory.

He writes a thesis for a gold medal and, left at the university, devotes himself entirely to scientific work, alien to politics and any social activity in general, devoting part of his time to teaching only to earn money. work in gymnasiums.

His first works were with a pendulum, and later on the application of photography, in particular to measurements and studies of double stars. His first dissertation (in 1903) was “The latitude of the Moscow Observatory in connection with the movement of the poles,” the second (1913) was “Some applications of photography to precise measurements in astronomy.” Sh. is gaining significant scientific fame in the West. Europe.

He read astronomer. courses in Moscow University and Moscow higher women's courses.

In 1904, with the Japanese War, interest in political life began to awaken in Sh. In 1905, having received a scientific trip to Germany, he met an illegal politician. literature and with German social democrats. press.

He returned in December 1905, in the days following Moscow. uprising, determined by the Social Democrat and, immediately joining the Bolshevik organization, first worked in its financial apparatus, was a representative of the Moscow. committee in the Red Cross, etc. Soon he becomes a military technical employee. Moscow bureau com, without leaving this work even in 1907-1908. - in the era of the heyday of reaction, and, risking the gallows, organizes work to study Moscow in the event of an uprising and civil war (under the guise of the head of the student group’s work on measuring gravity anomalies - with the permission of the city governor and governor - he does this for several months with the group comrades, photographing streets, marking passageways, convenient points, etc.). Since 1909, Sh. retreated from active work in the underground and provided only material assistance to the organization, participated in the work of legal organizations, giving lectures, etc., while continuing to be associated with the party.

Several searches take place at Sh.’s place; he is not confirmed as a professor (until 1917); but in general he is not particularly persecuted: in this his biographer (V. Ya.) sees the subtle calculation of one of the largest provocateurs of the Bolshevik organization A. S. Romanov, who spared Sh. so as not to expose himself.

In 1917, Sh. was again involved in active work on organizing military squads.

He enters the city duma as a Bolshevik candidate.

He takes part in the organization of fighting squads, goes to the mountains. Duma from the Bolshevik Party, in October he established security for Moscow. advice, then the initial steps are done. Zamoscow headquarters Revolutionary Committee, after the coup - pres. Zamosk. Revolutionary Committee and, finally, Moscow. governor Commissioner.

Upon the move of the Council of People's Commissars to Moscow, Sh., as a member of the board of the People's Commissariat of Education, took over the management of higher education and in 1918 participated in its reorganization.

Since the fall of 1918, Sh. has been a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 2nd Army, then of the Eastern Front.

Sh. finally breaks with science, with the observatory, the director of which he was before going to the front. He makes advances and retreats, catches pneumonia at the front and dies on January 31, 1920 (See “Memory Bor.”). (Granat) Sternberg, Pavel Karlovich (1866-1920) - communist, professor of astronomy at Moscow University; from a wealthy railway family. contractor.

After graduating from the Oryol gymnasium, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, where he was retained for scientific work.

In December 1905 he joined the Bolsheviks and soon became one of the most prominent workers of the Military Technical Bureau of the Moscow Institute. In 1907-1908, Sh. organized, under the guise of measuring gravity anomalies, a survey of the streets of Moscow for the purposes of a future uprising and civil war (the work was carried out by a group of party comrades under the guise of students).

Since 1909, Sh. withdrew from active underground work, supporting the organization only financially and continuing to work in legal organizations.

After the February Revolution, Sternberg headed the work of organizing combat squads in Moscow.

In the October days he organized the security of the Moscow Council, then worked as chief of staff of the Zamoskvoretsky Revolutionary Committee, and after the coup - its chairman and Moscow provincial commissar.

In 1918 - member of the board of the People's Commissariat for Education, head of the department of higher education and, together with M. N. Pokrovsky, held the first meeting on the reform of higher education. In the fall of 1918, Sh., due to party mobilization, went to the front and worked as a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Eastern Front.

He died at the front from pleurisy.

Sh. is a major scientist with a European name.

His scientific activities were very diverse.

Sh.'s achievements were especially great in the field of gravimetry.

Since 1888, Sh. conducted a large number of expeditions to various areas of Russia to determine the force of gravity.

In particular, he investigated the Moscow gravitational anomaly (1917). In 1910, Sh. established a gravitational connection between Pulkovo and Moscow.

Sh. - one of the first to study the issue of latitude variability (medal of the Russian Astronomical Society, 1906) and photographing double stars in order to determine their relative position.

The photographic material obtained by Sh. on planetary nebulae is still used today. time is the basis for inferring the proper motions of these objects.

Sh. took part in expeditions to observe total solar eclipses in 1887 and 1914. Sh.'s teaching activities began in 1890 and continued in various educational institutions until 1918. The Moscow Astronomical Observatory is named after Sh.

Proceedings of Sh.: Latitude of the Moscow Observatory in connection with the movement of the poles, M., 1903 (first dissertation);

Some applications of photography to precise measurements and astronomy, M., 1913 (second dissertation), etc. Sternberg, Pavel Karlovich - Sov. astronomer, revolutionary figure.

Born in Orel. Upon completion of Moscow. University (in 1887) was left to prepare for a professorship.

Since 1914 - extraordinary, since 1917 - ordinary professor. right there. In 1916-17 - director. Moscow observatory.

Since 1891, Sh. conducted scientific work in Moscow. University Observatory and at the same time taught courses in astronomy and geodesy.

In 1905 he joined the RSDLP and, having joined the Bolsheviks, soon became one of the most prominent military-technical workers. Moscow Bureau party committee.

In 1907-08, Sh. organized a survey of the streets of Moscow for the purposes of a future armed uprising (the work was carried out by a group of comrades under the guise of studying gravity anomalies).

Since 1909, in connection with the liquidation of military-technical. The bureau withdrew from active underground work, but did not break ties with the party, provided it with material assistance, and participated in the work of legal organizations.

After the February Revolution, Sh. was one of the organizers and leaders of the fighting squads of Moscow workers.

In the October days, Sh. led the revolutionary forces of the Zamoskvoretsky district, then was elected member. Presidium of Moscow provincial executive committee

In 1918 Sh. - member. Collegium of the People's Commissariat of Education, headed the department of higher education. On Sept. In 1918 he was mobilized to the front and appointed political officer. commissioner and member Revolutionary Military Council of the 2nd Army East. front, and in 1919 - member. Revolutionary Military Council East. front.

He died of pneumonia.

As a scientist, Sh. is known for his work in the field of gravimetry and photography. astrometry.

In 1888 he began gravimetric studies. research subsequently carried out in various areas of Europe. parts of Russia.

In 1909, Sh. established gravimetric. connection between Pulkovo and Moscow.

In 1915-16 he studied Moscow in detail. gravity anomaly, made by gravimetric. section, called "section Sh." Sh. was one of the first to use photography to measure double stars. Sh.’s work on “determining the latitude of the Moscow Observatory in connection with the problem of studying the movement of the earth’s poles” is of great importance.

In 1914, Sh. led an expedition to observe a total solar eclipse.

The name Sh. was assigned to the State. astronomical Institute at Mosk. un-those. Lit.: [Kulikovsky P. G.], Pavel Karlovich Sternberg, M., 1951 (there is a bibliography of Sh.’s works); Perel Yu. G., Outstanding Russian astronomers, M.-L., 1951. Sternberg, Pavel Karlovich (3.IV.1865-1.II.1920) - Soviet astronomer and revolutionary figure.

Genus. in Orel. In 1887 he graduated from Moscow University and was appointed assistant at the university's observatory. Since 1890, he was a private associate professor at the university and at the same time an astronomer-observer at the Moscow Observatory.

In 1899-1900 headed the Commission for the development of an astronomy program for secondary schools.

During the days of the uprising of 1917, he was appointed representative of the party center of the uprising in the Zamoskvoretsky district.

In 1918 he headed the Higher School Department of the People's Commissariat of Education.

Along with revolutionary political work, he did not stop scientific and pedagogical activities.

Since 1914 - extraordinary, and since 1917 - ordinary professor at Moscow University. In 1916-1917 - Director of the Moscow Observatory.

Scientific works relate to the study of the rotational motion of the Earth, photographic astronomy, and gravimetry.

For his gravimetric determinations at a number of points in the European part of Russia with the Repsold pendulum, he received the medal of the Russian Geographical Island. In 1892-1903. carried out a major study "The latitude of the Moscow Observatory in connection with the movement of the poles." Sternberg's photographic observations of binary stars were among the first rigorous attempts in science to use photographic techniques to accurately measure the relative positions of star pairs. The hundreds of photographs of double stars and other objects he obtained still serve as good material for special research.

In 1913, Sternberg was awarded the degree of Doctor of Astronomy in connection with the defense of his dissertation “Some applications of photography to precise measurements in astronomy.” Sternberg spent the last and most intense year of his life in the ranks of the Red Army and contributed to the defeat of Kolchak and the establishment of Soviet power in Siberia.

The State Astronomical Institute of Moscow University bears the name of P.K. Sternberg. Lit.: Perel Yu. G. Outstanding Russian astronomers. - M.-L., Gostekhizdat, 1951. - Kulikovsky P. G. Pavel Karlovich Sternberg. - M., Moscow State University, 1951.

STERNBERG Pavel Karlovich

(03/21/1865, Orel - 02/1/1920, Moscow)

Pavel Karlovich Sternberg - Russian astronomer, gravimetrist, director of the Astronomical Observatory of Moscow University, revolutionary, public and political figure. Born into a family of immigrants from Germany who belonged to commoners. In 1883, Sternberg successfully graduated from the Oryol classical gymnasium and in the same year he entered the mathematical department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, where he became one of the best students of the outstanding astronomer Professor F.A. Bredikhina. In 1887, Sternberg was awarded the department's gold medal for student scientific work" About the duration of rotation of Jupiter's Red Spot". "In May of the same year he graduated from the university, and in March 1888 he was appointed supernumerary assistant at the Astronomical Observatory and remained at the university to prepare for the professorship.

In November 1888, Sternberg was elected a full member of the Moscow Society of Natural Scientists at Moscow University. Together with Bredikhin, in 1888-1889. participated in several expeditions to study gravimetric anomalies in the European part of Russia, deviations of gravity from its normal value, caused by heterogeneity in the density of the subsoil or the irregularity of the shape of the Earth. In 1890-1891 Sternberg continued gravimetric research, leading expeditions to Nizhny Novgorod, Sevastopol and Rostov-on-Don. For these studies in 1891 he was awarded a silver medal of the Russian Geographical Society. In 1908, Sternberg, together with students, carried out measurements of gravity in the city of Torzhok, and in 1909, to link to the international point in Potsdam (Germany), he measured the difference in gravity between the Moscow and Pulkovo observatories. From 1915 to 1917 Sternberg was studying the Moscow gravitational anomaly. The measurements were carried out by him along a specially selected line located across the strike of the anomaly (that is, between the areas of negative and positive deviations of the plumb line). Later, this line (Presnya, Neskuchny Sad, Uzkoye, Podolsk) was called the Sternberg section. This work was interrupted by the revolution and completed after Sternberg’s death by his students I.A. Kazansky, A.A. Mikhailov and L.V. Sorokin.

In 1890, Sternberg was appointed as an observer astronomer at Moscow University and in the same year he was approved as a private associate professor of the university. In January 1891, he began lecturing on his first university course, General Theory of Planetary Perturbations. In 1896, Sternberg began teaching a course on celestial mechanics at the university, in 1898 on higher geodesy, in 1910 on spherical astronomy, and in 1911 on a course on descriptive astronomy. Lectures of the last three courses in 1913-1915. were published lithographically. In addition, from 1892 to 1906. Sternberg taught physics at the Alexander Commercial School, and from 1901 to 1917. gave lectures on theoretical and practical astronomy and higher geodesy at the Higher Women's Courses. In 1899, he took part in organizing the Pedagogical Congress, at which he made a report on the shortcomings of teaching astronomy in schools. In 1902, Sternberg was elected a full member of the Pedagogical Society at Moscow University.

In 1892, Sternberg began a series of observations to determine the latitude of the university observatory in connection with the problem of latitude variability. The observational materials were summarized by Sternberg in his master's thesis Latitude of the Moscow Observatory in connection with the movement of the poles, which he successfully defended in 1903, and in 1906 he was awarded a medal of the Russian Astronomical Society for this research. In 1902, Sternberg, on behalf of the director of the observatory V.K. Tserasky, began systematically photographing double stars using a 15-inch astrograph installed shortly before. The materials from these studies were used to write a doctoral dissertation: Some Applications of Photography to Precision Measurements in Astronomy, successfully defended in 1913. In June 1916 he was appointed director of the observatory, and in January 1917 he was elected ordinary professor of astronomy at Moscow University. In April 1917, Sternberg was elected chairman of the First Congress of the All-Russian Astronomical Union, held in Petrograd.

In 1905, Sternberg secretly became a member of the RSDLP (b) and began underground work in the Military Technical Bureau of the Moscow Party Committee to prepare an armed uprising. In October-November 1917, Sternberg led the fighting in Moscow. In November 1917, he was appointed military provincial commissar of Moscow, and in March 1918, concurrently, a member of the Board of the People's Commissariat of Education and head of the higher education department. In July 1918, Sternberg participated in the preparation and holding of a meeting of university officials on issues of higher education reform. In September 1918, as the civil war flared up, Sternberg was appointed a member of the Revolutionary Military Council and political commissar of the 2nd Army of the Eastern Front, and in September 1919 a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Eastern Front. In November-December 1919, he took part in leading the combat operations of the 3rd and 5th armies of the Eastern Front to capture Omsk. Sternberg became seriously ill during the crossing of the Irtysh and was taken to Moscow, where he died on the night of January 31 to February 1, 1920. He was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Essays:

Latitude of the Moscow Observatory in connection with the movement of the poles. M., 1903. (Master's thesis).
Some applications of photography to precise measurements in astronomy: Dr. dis. // Bull. Soc. Natur. Moskau (Ann. 1913). 1914. N 1/3. P. 1-212.

Literature:

Blazhko S.N. Pavel Karlovich Sternberg: Obituary // Moscow Report. University for 1921, pp. 109-112.
Perel Yu.G. Outstanding Russian astronomers. M., 1951. S. 141-175.
Kulikovsky P.G. Pavel Karlovich Sternberg. 18651920. 2nd ed. M., 1987.

The grave of Pavel Sternberg at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Pavel Karlovich Sternberg(, Oryol, -, Moscow) - Soviet astronomer, revolutionary and statesman, member of the Communist Party since the city. V graduated from Moscow University and was appointed assistant at the university observatory. S. is a private associate professor at the university and at the same time an astronomer-observatory at the Moscow Observatory. In - gg. headed the Commission for the development of an astronomy program for secondary schools.

After the events of 1905, he joined the underground struggle of the Moscow Bolshevik organization, on whose instructions he carried out a bold undertaking to photograph a detailed plan of Moscow (). He was elected a member of the Moscow City Duma on the Bolshevik list. During the days of the uprising, Mr.. was appointed representative of the party center of the uprising in the Zamoskvoretsky district. In the city he headed the Higher School Department of the People's Commissariat of Education. Along with revolutionary political work, he did not stop scientific and pedagogical activities. From the city - extraordinary, and from the city - ordinary professor at Moscow University. In 1916-1917 - Director of the Moscow Observatory.

Scientific works relate to the study of the rotational motion of the Earth, photographic astronomy, gravimetry. For his gravimetric determinations at a number of points in the European part of Russia with the Repsold pendulum, he received a medal from the Russian Geographical Society. In - gg. carried out a major study “The latitude of the Moscow Observatory in connection with the movement of the poles.”