Shajn Grigory Abramovich General data:
19.04.1892 - 04.08.1956
Place of birth: Odessa city, Kherson province, Russian Empire
Studied in: Yurievsk University, Livonian province, Russian Empire (since 1919 Tartu University, Estonian SSR and since 1991 the Republic of Estonia) (1912-1914);
Key interests: astrophysics, stellar catalogues, variable stars, stellar evolution, kinematics of the Galaxy, solar corona, emission nebulae
Biography:
He was born on April 7 (according to the Julian calendar or 19 according to the Gregorian calendar) on April 1892 in the Odesa city of Kherson province of the Russian Empire, in a large family of a poor carpenter.
Since childhood, he was engaged in self-education, became interested in astronomy after reading translations of K. Flammarion's books. Like most amateurs, he began by observing meteors from the roof of his house. As early as 1910, his first scientific astronomical article "Definition of the Perseid radiant" was published in the Bulletin of the Russian Astronomical Society.
In 1911, he passed the exams for the matriculation certificate externally.
In 1912-1914, he studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Yuryiv (now Tartiv) University.
In 1914-1917 he served in the Russian army, which he joined as a volunteer.
In 1920, he received a master's degree in astronomy at Perm State University (Yuriiv University was evacuated at that time), and there he worked as an assistant at the astronomy department in 1919-1920.
Since 1921, he worked as a calculator at the Pulkovo Observatory.
In 1924, he supervised the installation of a 40-inch reflector in the Simeiz department (Crimea) of the Pulkovo Observatory.
In 1929 (according to other data in 1928-1929), together with O. Struve, he determined the rapid rotation of stars of early spectral classes and measured their speed, finding that they rotate tens of times faster than the Sun. In 1929, he proposed a method for determining the velocities of axial rotation of stars and showed for the first time that hot stars have axial rotation with equatorial velocities of the order of 100 km/s; determined the rotation speeds of a large number of stars.
From 1925 to 1952, he was the director of the Simez Observatory (Crimean Astrophysical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), which he founded. He lived and worked here, with the exception of evacuation in 1941-1944.
It was he who installed the large reflector telescope received from England with a mirror with a diameter of one meter. And on the very first night of operation of the new telescope, he discovered a comet, which was later named by his name.
In July 1935, as part of the USSR delegation, he participated in the meetings of the Paris Assembly of the International Astronomical Union, where the official accession of the Soviet Union to the International Astronomical Union was confirmed.
Since 1939, he has been a valid member (academician) of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
He was among those who petitioned for the release of the scientists who were convicted in the fabricated "Pulkov case". In August 1944, a statement was received in the name of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR from academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR G. A. Shain with a request for release from imprisonment of the astronomer N. A. Kozyrev
While being evacuated in Abastuman during the Great Patriotic War, according to spectrograms obtained on a 40-inch telescope, G.A. Schein performed two studies. First, he solved the problem of long-period variables with anomalies of emission spectra. The model of physical shielding proposed by him, in which certain selectively absorbing molecules, atoms and ions are above the layers responsible for the emission of hydrogen and iron, explained the sharply anomalous emissive Balmer decrement, and its rapid temporal variations, and anomalies in the relative intensities of ion and atom lines of iron Secondly, together with Gaze V.F., the astronomer studied the content of carbon isotopes in cold stars of spectral classes N and R and found that the content of 13C in the stars they studied was only 2-3 times lower , than the content of 12C, while the prevalence of 13C on Earth is about 100 times lower than 12C.
In 1950, he became a laureate of the State Prize of the USSR for the study of the content of carbon isotopes in cold stars of spectral classes N and R, during which chemical evolution in stars was first discovered.
Together with V. F. Gase, he discovered about 150 new nebulae, and together with V. F. Gase and S. B. Pickelner, he conducted detailed photometry of dozens of nebula negatives of various types. As a result, they proved that the continuous radiation of emission nebulae is caused by two-quantum transitions in hydrogen atoms, that emission nebulae contain dust, and reflection nebulae contain gas, and the differences between these two structures of the interstellar medium are primarily determined by an external factor - the temperature of the exciting stars. The astronomer singled out a special class of nebulae, in which a significant part of matter is concentrated on the periphery, and gave arguments in favor of the formation of such structures due to the expansion of nebulae. He linked another class of very elongated light and dark nebulae with a fibrous structure to the expansion of diffuse structures, which occurs under the control of an external magnetic field. Comparison with data on the polarization of starlight confirmed the hypothesis of the presence of a regular magnetic field of the Galaxy associated with its spiral branches, and turned this hypothesis into a firmly established fact.
G. A. Shein and S. B. Pickelner discovered the galactic halo; studying the glow of nebulae devoid of exciting hot stars, Schein clarified the glow mechanism of such structures and laid the foundations of radiative cosmic gas dynamics.
He studied double stars, small planets, etc. He discovered the non-periodic comet C / 1925 F1 (Shajn-Comas Sol, also known as Comet 1925 VI or Comet 1925a) and rediscovered Comet 1925 X (Brooks-2) in the Solar System and several dozen spectral binaries.
He taught the developed theory of heating.
The scientist's research formed the basis of the developed theory of heating of the solar corona as a result of the collision of atoms and ions with electrons, accelerated by electric fields in conditions of low density, highlighted by J.S. Shklovsky in the world's first monogram "Solar Corona", printed by him in 1951.
In 1952, together with V.F. Gaze published the Atlas of Diffuse Gas Nebulae.
Together with V. F. Gaze, he discovered "condensed" matter, which has the character of thickenings in the form of fibers in some nebulae (fiber nebulae NGC 6960, 6992, in the constellations Swan, Vyznychy, etc.).
In 1952-1954, together with V. F. Gaze, he was able to show for the first time that the masses of gas nebulae in nearby galaxies reach tens of thousands of the masses of the Sun by studying hydrogen nebulae in galaxies on small-scale images.
He was the creator of the largest refractor in Europe, the second largest optical mirror telescope in the CIS with a mirror diameter of 2.6 m, which was developed by B.K. Ionnisiani and installed in the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in 1954-1961 and was named after Shajn G. A.
In 1952, at the height of the struggle against the "cosmopolitans", he was dismissed from the post of director, but continued to work as the head of the department of nebulae and interstellar medium (according to other data of the physics of stars and nebulae).
He died on August 4, 1956 in the city of Moscow, more precisely in a country village in the city settlement of Khotkovo, Serhiyevo-Posad district, Moscow region, Russian SSR (since 2004, this is the Abramtsevo village), and according to other data, it happened in the Holuba Zatoka village of Crimean region of the Ukrainian SSR.
The scope of his scientific work is the evolution of stars, the kinematics and magnetic field of the Galaxy, the solar corona, long-period variable stars, the discovery and research of new emission nebulae.
Together with V. O. Albinsky, he compiled a catalog of the radial velocities of about 800 stars.
The astronomer was a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, an honorary doctor of the University of Copenhagen, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Small planet No. 1648 Shajn is named in honor of the couple of astronomers Shajn G. A. and Shajn P. F.
Main publications:
1. Otto Struve,G. A. Shajn. On the rotation of the stars. Mon. Not. R. Astron.Soc. 89:222-39.(1929)
2. Otto Struve,G. A. Shajn. The absorption continuum in the violet region of the spectra of carbon stars. Astrophys. J. 106:86-91.(1947)
3. Курс астрофизики и звездной астрономии Ч. 1. Методы астрофизических и астрофотографический исследований. /В.А. Амбарцумян, И.А. Балановский, А.А. Белопольский, Б.П. Герасимович, Н.А. Козырев, С.К. Костинский, Е.Я. Перепелкин, В.Г. Фесенков, Г.А. Шайн.-ОНТИ, главная редакция общетехнической литературы, 1934, 342с.
4. Курс астрофизики и звездной астрономии Ч. 2. Физика солнечной системы и звездная астрономия /В.А. Амбарцумян, И.А. Балановский, А.А. Белопольский, Б.П. Герасимович, Н.А. Козырев, С.К. Костинский, Е.Я. Перепелкин, В.Г. Фесенков, Г.А. Шайн.-Ленинград - Москва:ОНТИ, главная редакция общетехнической литературы, 1936, 580с.
Sources:
1 Hockey T., Trimble V., Williams Th. R., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. — New York: Springer, 2007.—Vol. 1, 2.—1341 p.-PP.1046 (1074)
2 Колчинский И. Г., Корсунь А. А., Родригес М. Г. Астрономы: Биографический справочник. — Киев: Наук. думка, 1986.—510 с.-С.368-369
3 Пикельнер С. Б. Г. А. Шайн (1892—1956) // Историко-астрономические исследования.—1957.—Вып. 3.— С. 551—610.
4 Проник И. И. План академика Г. А. Шайна по структуре Галактики // Историко-астрономические исследования.—2008.—Вып. 33.—С. 55—82.
