Maksutov [Maksutyan] Dmitry Dmitrievich General data:
23.04.1896 - 12.08.1964
Place of birth: Nikolaev City, Kherson province, Russian empire
Studied in: Odessa Cadet Corps, Russian Empire (1906-1913); Nikolay Engineering School, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire (1913-1914); Tomsk Technological Institute, (since 2014, National Research Institute of Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russian Federation) (1919-?); Tomsk Officer Electrical School of Radiotelephonists (1915);
Key interests: instruments and devices, astronomy
Biography:
He was born 11 (on the Julian calendar and 23 on the Gregorian calendar) in April 1896 in Nikolaev city, Kherson province (according to some sources in Odessa city) of Russian Empire, in the family of impoverished noblemen. The generation of Maksutovs is of Tatar city origin, had a princely title. His great-grandfather, Peter Ivanovich, for bravery in battle received the title of prince; his grandfather, Rear Admiral Dmitry Petrovich Maksutov, was the last Russian ruler of Alaska before its sale by the Russian Empire to the United States in 1867.
In 1899 Maxutov's family moved to Odessa, the father, who was the son of the last Russian governor of Alaska, moves from military to merchant fleet.
About eight years ago a boy could already read and write freely. Approximately at the same time, the magnificent southern sky and the old dulondovskaya pipe, the grandfather's gift, awakened his interest in astronomy. Under the guidance of his father by developing the foundations of joiner's and locksmith's craft, he built a simple stand for a 2.5-inch tube.
In 1906 the future known optician enters the Odessa Cadet Corps. By coincidence, he failed to continue his education, graduate from the university, so self-education was the only support in all his further theoretical and practical work.
In 1911, at the age of 15, he produces a mirror in diameter of 7 inches. Conducts observation. At this time, studying in high school, he becomes the head of the astronomical observatory of the corps and conducts classes on cosmography with students of senior classes.
The results of his observations become known and he is absent-minded elected a true member of the Russian Astronomical Society. And in 1912 he published his first note on the manufacture of mirrors in the Society's Izvestia.
In 1913 he was honored (he had only one "8" from theology) graduating from the Odessa Cadet Corps and going to St. Petersburg city. There he goes to the Nikolaev (military) Engineering School, but I-th World War interrupted classes. After one and a half years of training he only managed to finish in 1914 an accelerated 3-month course of spark radiotelephony (according to some sources, he graduated from the Tomsk Officer Electrotechnical School of Radiotelephonists in 1915). He was sent to the Caucasus Front, where he was distinguished in battles and received the rank of a renegade (lieutenant) and several military awards.
In 1916, he volunteered to go to the school of military pilots in Tiflis city. During the flight, an Airplane accident occurred, but Dmitry was miraculously alive. The revolutionary events of 1917 find him in the hospital. After treatment he tries to emigrate through China and go to the Mount Wilson Observatory, where he wanted to work under the guidance of J. Richie. But he could only reach Harbin in China. He was arrested, because he was driving forged documents, one month after the establishment of the person was released, he lived for a year and a half with casual earnings. Complete lack of funds and prolonged illness make him return.
In 1919 he gets to Tomsk city. Here, as a former officer, was mobilized into the Russian army for work on the radiotelegraph base, but did not start the service.
In the same year (according to other sources in 1920) he enrolled in the 3rd year of the Chemical Faculty at the Tomsk Technological Institute. Because of the fact that the teachers did not suffer catastrophically, he had to study and learn the course of physics. Here he restores his optics classes. It builds a mirror telescope and a neahromatic microscope. He tries to set up the production of telescopes in the workshops of visual aids at Tomsk University.
On December 20, 1919, he was enrolled as optician in the studio of the State Optical Institute in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg City), where his invitation to D.S. Rozhdestvensky.
In 1921 he moved to Odessa city and is hired to work at the astronomical observatory for the post of optics-mechanics.
But the difficult financial position makes him switch to the work of a teacher of physics and mathematics at military technical courses. With interruptions on reforming courses, he conducts classes there since 1921 to 1927.
In 1923, he, not knowing anything about the work of Chretien, Schwarzschild, and Cuder, who offered some types of aplantic mirror systems, he considered several variants of mirror lenses for microscopy and offered a number of new interesting combinations. Subsequently, he completed this work in the State Optical Institute and published all in the form of a separate work in the works State Optical Institute. Moreover, the systems previously proposed by other authors, are only individual cases of a common solution found by him.
In 1924 he proposed a compensation scheme for parabolic mirrors, along with V. P. Lynnik is a pioneer of these methods of the console.
In 1927, optics passes to the State Physical Institute of Novorossian University in Odessa city(According to other sources, he worked there since 1921) and organizes a studio for the manufacture of school telescopes. And, although only five people worked in the workshop, over one hundred newton telescopes with a diameter of 140 mm were released since 1929 to 1930 over one year.
In February 1930, a wave of arrests in Odessa swept in search of "enemies of the people." The optician was also arrested but, without finding any hints of anti-Soviet activity, he was released on March 13, 1930.
In November 1930 he was appointed as an assistant to the optician's department of the State Optical Institute in the Leningrad city, which at that time led V. P. Lynnick, where he worked until 1952 and where he organized and headed the laboratory of astronomical optics during 1944-1946.
At the beginning of 1931, the optics after visiting State Optical and Mechanical Plant named after the United State Political Administration heoffered an original way of centering the lenses, which consisted in the method of self-alignment of the lens between two coaxial tubular cartridges, one of which pushed the lens through the spring to the second stationary cartridge.
In lieutenant denunciation, he was again arrested in March 1938. He was accused of sabotage in Soviet institutions and espionage in favor of militaristic Japan. Under sabotage he understood his multiple rejection of glass for lenses of a large Pulkovo lens. It is clear that this was an entire fabrication, the investigation went into a dead end and was released after nine months of imprisonment.
He is the author of many theoretical works and many inventions in the field of practical optics, his main invention is the meniscal optical systems developed by him in 1941.
In 1941 he received the title of Doctor of Technical Sciences, and in 1944 the title of Professor.
In 1946 he became a member of the correspondent of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
Since 1952 he worked at the Pulkovo Observatory. He soon headed the astrometric instrumentation department.
Also, optics conducted a great pedagogical work.
The optician was the laureate of the state awards of the USSR in 1941, 1946.
In 1958, he was awarded the Grand Prix Award at the World Trade Fair in Brussels.
His work played an important role in the development of telescope building in the USSR. According to his scheme, two large meniscus telescopes were constructed: in 1950 a 50-centimeter telescope was constructed for the Alma-Ata Observatory, and in 1975, a 70-centimeter telescope for the Abastumanskoy Observatory in Georgia. The last work optics is a 700 mm two-stroke astrometric astrograph AZT-16, which was installed in Chile in 1968 on Mount Robles, 90 kilometers north-west of Santiago. He is the author of more than 40 books on astronomical optics.
He died on August 12, 1964, from a heart attack in Pulkovo. He buried in the Memorial Cemetery of Astronomers of the Pulkovo Observatory.
The name of the optics is one of the lunar craters ("Maksutov") and the small planet number 2568 - Maksutov (opened with the help of the Maxustov system telescope).
Main publications:
1. Максутов Д. Д. Анаберраціонние відображають поверхні і системи і нові способи їх випробування. - Праці ГОІ. - Л. , 1932. - Т. 8, вип. 86. - 120 с.
2. Максутов Д. Д. Теневые методы исследования оптических систем, 1934
3. Максутов Д. Д. Оптические плоскости: их исследование и изготовление, 1934
4. Максутов Д. Д. Оптика телескопов, 1937
Sources:
1 Колчинский И. Г., Корсунь А. А., Родригес М. Г. Астрономы: Биографический справочник. — Киев: Наук. думка, 1986.—510 с.-C.205
2 Клімішин І. А. Історія Астрономії.- Івано-Франківськ: ІФТЛДІ, 2009,-С. 445
3 Э.Тригуб Д.Д.Максутов (1896-1964)
4 День в історії астрономії
