Gerasimovich Boris Petrovich General data:
31.03.1889 - 30.11.1937
Place of birth: Kremenchug city, Poltava province, Russian Empire
Studied in: Imperial Kharkiv University, Kharkiv province, Russian Empire (since 1999 V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv region, Ukraine) (1910-1914);
Key interests: theoretical astronomy, astrophysics, solar physics, sources of stellar energy, variable stars, mathematisc, emission nebulae, non-stationary stars. ScD Thesis: He was awarded the degree of Doctor without defending a dissertation (1934 Main Astronomical Observatory, Leningrad city, Russian SSR);
Biography:
He was born 31 (according to other sources 19 (for the Gregorian calendar or 7 for the Yulian calendar)) in March 1889 in former Kremenchug city of Poltava province of the Russian Empire (according to other sources directly in Poltava city) in the doctor's family.
In 1909 he graduated from high school in Poltava city externally, where he joined in 1899 and from which in 1906 he was expelled from the last class of the gymnasium without the right to enter other educational institutions for participating in the revolutionary movement and was convicted four times.
In 1914 graduated from Imperial Kharkov University in which he entered in 1910. During the 1914-1917 he preparation for professorship. In 1916 he passed training in Pulkovo village under the direction of Belopol'skii A. A. and Kostynsky S. K. (according to other sources, he studied at the graduate school of the Pulkovo Observatory during 1914-1917). In 1917, after returning from the Pulkovo Observatory in Kharkov University, he has successfully "holds" Master exam and became assistant professor of Imperial Kharkiv University.
In 1914 he took part in an expedition to observe the total solar eclipse in Henychesk city in August 1914.
In 1915, together with N.N. Evdokimov, he photographed Comet Melisha 1915a and a number of nebulae with the help of an astrograph mounted on a six-inch refractor.
During the 1919-1931 he was a professor at various higher educational institutions of Kharkov. He worked in Kharkiv Institute of Public Education during the 1922-1929. He taught courses in astronomy, theoretical mechanics, aerodynamics. During 1920-August 1933 he was a staff member of the university observatory, worked as a senior astronomer.
In 1930, he was Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Ukrainian SRSR science section.
During summer 1926-1929 he worked in Harvard city in the Astronomical Observatory of Cambridge in the United States at the invitation of its director H. Shapley.
During the 1924-1928 astronomer was elected to many famous European and American scientific astronomical societies, during the 1930-1934 he was a member of the French Physical Society and since 1930 he was a member of the National Geographic Society.
In December 1934, in connection with the restoration (January 1934) abolished after the revolution of academic degrees and titles, he awarded a doctorate in physics and mathematics without defending a thesis.
During the 1933-1937 professor was director of the Pulkovo Observatory, being invited to first manage the newly created astrophysical sector in 1931. Since 1934 he was chairman of the Commission for the Study of the Sun at the Main Astronomical Observatory of the USSR.
In July 1935, as part of the USSR delegation, he participated in the meetings of the Paris Assembly of the International Astronomical Union, which confirmed the official accession of the Soviet Union to the International Astronomical Union.
He was a member of the All-Union Astronomical and Geodetic Society.
In Pulkovo he led commission of Sun on research and academic preparation commission to observe the eclipse June 19, 1936.
With the onset of repression in the 1930s, he defended his arrested colleagues. He also was arrested June 28, 1937 on "Pulkovo case" Visiting session of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court in closed session in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) November 30, 1937 found guilty of a crime under Art. 58 p. 6, 7, 8 and 11 of the RSFSR Criminal Code and sentenced to capital punishment - shooting with confiscation of all personal property it properly. The same day the sentence was executed. He died on in Leningrad city (according to other data in Moscow City). In 1956 the USSR Main Military Prosecutor's Office conducted an additional investigation into the validity of the conviction in 1937 Gerasimovitch B. P. Decision of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court number 4N-025 898/56 of March 23, 1957 verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court on November 30, 1937 against Gerasimovitch Boris Petrovich canceled and terminated the case on him for lack of evidence. The scientist was fully rehabilitated posthumously.
Since the early 1920s, he has conducted research in three areas: I. Physics of diffuse matter in the shells of hot nonstationary stars, in emission nebulae, the interstellar medium, and planetary atmospheres. ІІ. Study and evolutionary classification of physical variable stars. III. The structure and dynamics of the Galaxy. He has made a great contribution to the physics of stars and Sun, and interstellar medium, the study of the structure of the Galaxy.
His name is associated formation of the solar observatory research subjects in Kharkov University. He has authored more than 170 articles on specific issues Zaryan astrophysics and astronomy. general questions Astronomy (history, organization, personalities included scientists courses) also included research interests Mechanics and Aerodynamics; he taught these subjects, as head of the Department of Astronomy Section aeromechanics Physical Faculty of Kharkiv Institute of Public Education on 1922 and the Department of Theoretical Mechanics since 1929.
In 1928 astronomer is the winner of A. Kress-Morrison prize of the New York Academy of Sciences.
One of the first to study the nature of planetary nebulae and has worked on on this topic during the 1919-1931. He investigated the physical conditions in them and their various forms as a figure of equilibrium gas mass under the action of gravity and the central star repellent light pressure force; defined luminosity of the central star and expressed further research confirmed the assumption of the smallness of their masses. In 1919-1922, for the first time in the planetary nebulae, he took into account the role not only of the light pressure and gravity of the central star, but also of the viscosity in the nebulae. For models of O- and B-stars and G- and M-giants in 1924 he estimated the particle sizes in their gas-dust shells, their distances from the star, and the sizes of stable shells. He was the first in the USSR to study the mechanical and physical properties of planetary nebulae, taking into account the quantum theory of radiation. He explained the early spectra of the nuclei of planetary nebulae by the high value of their ionization potentials and derived in 1927 a more general formula for ionizing the matter of the planetary nebulae themselves than Sakha's formula for stellar atmospheres, showing that planetary nebulae are only 10-5-10-6 H atoms are neutral; supplemented Menzel's conclusions in 1927 by showing that the masses of the nuclei of planetary nebulae are very small and may be the result of catastrophic compression of normal stars, and that planetary nebulae may be around all nonstationary stars. Astronomer allowed the formation of planetary nebulae both by continuous termination of the matter of the central star, and batch dropping, similar to the new stars. He studied the Cepheids, semi-regular and long-period stars. He identified or specified the elements (periods, brightness in max and min) and the type of variability of more than 70 stars, discovered the variability of 32 stars, set the upper limit of the classical Cepheid period, specified the zero-luminosity period for galactic Cepheids. Scientist established and explained the multiperiodicity of the semi-regular type of Taurus RV, discovered the change of periods in long-period Mezir; pointed to the evolutionary relationship of different physical variables and new stars, planetary nebulae and gas-dust shells in non-stationary stars; was the first to propose in 1936 a classification of new stars.
Astronomer is one of the first who pointed to the need to consider the interstellar absorption of light in the study of the structure of the galaxy, original estimation method applied interstellar absorption using Cepheids.
In 1934-1937 he proposed the "unitary model of the Galaxy" as a spiral star system.
In 1927, together with V. Leyten determined the distance of the Sun from the galactic plane and in 1932 specified its distance from the center of the Galaxy; in 1931 he was the first after Eddington to assess the role of irregular forces in it. He developed the theory of ionization in stellar atmospheres and interstellar gas (amendments to the Saha formula with deviations from thermodynamic equilibrium); in 1929 together with O. Struve considered the physical conditions in interstellar gas, taking into account the formation of absorption lines in it.
In 1928, together with J. Menzel he performed pioneering work on stellar energy sources, which processes release energy internally star considered in terms of statistical mechanics. First among astronomers seriously considered astronomical aspects of cosmic rays.
A large number of works devoted to variable stars - study periods and forms curves, spectral characteristics, color performance and absolute values of long-period and half right variables Cepheids, type stars ρ Swan. Rated total variable stars each type based on theoretical and probabilistic reasoning.
In 1934 he studied in detail Be-star, considered the problem of leakage of substance are under pressure radiation and related substances in the state of expanding shells of stars.
In his honor, was named a crater on the moon, the minor planet 2126 Gerasimovich.
Main publications:
1. Герасимович Б. П. Фізика Сонця.- Харків ; Київ : ТЕХНIЧНО-ТЕОРЕТИЧНЕ ВИДАВНИЦТВО (АНТВУ),1933.-138с.
2. Герасимович Б. Г. Физика Солнца. - 2-е изд., перераб. и доп. - Харьков: Гос. научн.-технич. изд-во Украины ОНТИ НКТП, 1935.-189с.
3. Otto Struve,B. P. Gerasimovich. Physical properties of a gaseous substratum of the Galaxy. Astrophys. J. 69:7-33. (1929)
4. Герасимович Б. П. Сказки и наука о происхождении мира / Б. Герасимович. – Изд. 3-е. – Х. : Госиздат Украины, 1924. – 36 с.
Sources:
1 Hockey T., Trimble V., Williams Th. R., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astro-nomers. — New York: Springer, 2007.—Vol. 1, 2.—1341 p.
2 Колчинский И. Г., Корсунь А. А., Родригес М. Г. Астрономы: Биографический справочник. — Киев: Наук. думка, 1986.—510 с.
3 Еремеева А. И. Жизнь и творчество Б. П. Герасимовича // Историко-астрономические исследования.—1990.—Вып. 22.—С. 253—301.
4 Огородников К. Ф. Памяти Б. П. Герасимовича // Развитие методов астрономических исследований. — М., Л., 1979.—С. .509—515.
