Shmidt Otto Yulievich General data:
30.09.1891 - 07.11.1956
Place of birth: Mogilev guberniy (Mogilev-on-Dnipro) city, North-West region, Russian Empire
Studied in: St. Vladimir Imperial Kyiv University (since 1999, Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University) (1913);
Key interests: cosmology, mathematisc, astronomy, geophysics
Biography:
He was born on September 18 (according to the Julian calendar or 30 according to the Gigorian calendar) on September 1891 in the Mogilev provincial city (Mogilev-on-Dnieper) of the North-West region (according to other data, in the Kyiv city of Kyiv province) of the Russian Empire.
His father, Julius Friedrich, from the Baltic German colonists, owned a small paper shop and served as a deacon in the church on public grounds. Latvian mother from local peasants. He probably came from the noble Schmidt family, who emigrated from the German Empire to the Russian Empire. The traditional difficulties of working on the history of the German diaspora in Russia in the case of the Schmidt family are deepened by the high variability of spelling of the surname - the following interpretations are found in various sources: Schmidt, Schmid, Schmidt, Schmidt, Schmidt. Russified variants from the same base are also known as Shmidtiv, Shmitov. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the child received 3-4 names during baptism according to the Lutheran rite and later could freely choose one of the names as the main one. The patronymic was also chosen from 2-3 of the father's names, for example, the son of Conrad Wilhelm Friedrich Schmidt (Schmidt, Schmitt, Schmidt) could be called Konradovich, Koradovich, Kindratovych, Vilhelmovich, Vasyliovych, Fridrikhovichu, Fedorovych. Often different names of people were used in different documents. Additional difficulties arise with the Russification of German names, patronymics, and later surnames in the diaspora.
Otto was the eldest of five children. On the advice of his grandfather, the boy was sent to Mogilev gymnasium at the age of nine. Subsequently, he continued his studies in Odessa and in 1909 graduated from the Kyiv Gymnasium with a gold medal.
In 1913, he graduated from the St. Vladimir Imperial Kyiv University. Here, under the guidance of D. A. Grave, he began to work on the theory of groups, taking part in the work of the professor's scientific seminar. Already in 1910-1911, he published the first scientific works on mathematics in German and French. In the second year, student Schmidt was awarded a gold medal by the faculty for solving one algebraic problem.
Since 1916 to 1920, he worked as a private associate professor at St. Vladimir Kyiv University.
In the early 1920s, he also gave lectures on algebra at Moscow University, being the head of Gostizdat and the editor-in-chief of the "Great Soviet Encyclopedia" (VRE) during 1924-1942.
During 1929-1949, he was the head of the department of higher algebra at Moscow State University, which he founded.
According to some sources, for some time in 1920-1956 he worked as a professor at the Forestry Institute in Moscow City.
In 1937-1949, he was the organizer and first director of the Institute of Theoretical Geophysics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
Since 1934, a valid member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR.
Since 1935, a valid member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
From February 28, 1939 to March 24, 1942, he was the vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
During 1930-1932, he was the chairman of the All-Union Arctic Union.
In 1932-1939, he was the chief of the Main Northern Sea Route. Head of expeditions on the ships "Sedov" (1929-1930), "Sibiryakov" (1932), "Chelyuskin" (1933-1934), aerial expedition to organize the drifting station "North Pole-1" (1937-1938).
On June 27, 1937, he was awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union", awarded the "Gold Star" medal.
During 1937-1946, he was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. of the 1st convocation.
He was awarded three Orders of Lenin in 1932, 1937 and 1953 (presented by the Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Sharaf Rashidov in the summer of 1955), two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor in 1936 and 1945, as well as the Order of the Red Star in 1934.
In 1951, he presented to the world his own meteorite hypothesis of the formation of the planets of the Solar System, which consisted in the fact that the Sun, when turning around the center of the Galaxy, entering huge dust clouds, mainly concentrated in its spiral arms, caused a gravitational capture of this rather dense dust swarm. from which the planets were formed through gravitational compression, based on the fact that in 1947 the possibility of capture was proved in the classic three-body problem.
He died on November 7, 1956 in Moscow City.
The field of activity of the scientist is mathematics, astronomy, geophysics, Arctic research. Scientific works in the field of mathematics concern algebra, abstract group theory, and in the field of astronomy he worked in cosmogony and geophysics.
An island in the Kara Sea, a peninsula in the northern part of Novaya Zemlya, a cape on the coast of the Chukchi Sea and one of the peaks and a pass in the Pamir Mountains got scientist`s name. Craters on the Moon and Mars and also asteroid No. 2108 got his name.
Main publications:
1. Шмидт О. Ю. Метеоритная теория происхождения Земли и планет.— ДАН СССР, 1944, 45, 6, 245 — 249.
2. Шмидт О. Ю. Абстрактная теория групп.-Киев, 1916, 285 с
3. Шмидт О. Ю. “Математические законы денежной эмиссии”— Москва ; Петроград : Гос. изд-во, 1923. — 17 с.
4. Шмидт О. Ю. Избранные труды. Математика. — М.: Изд-во АН СССР, 1959, . 316 с.
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.
2 Колчинский И. Г., Корсунь А. А., Родригес М. Г. Астрономы: Биографический справочник. — Киев: Наук. думка, 1986.—510 с.-С. 381-383
3 Воронцов-Вельямінов Б. А. Астрономическая Москва в двадцатые годы // Историко-астрономические исследования. Москва: Наука, 1986.- выпуск XVIII. -С.359
4 Справочный биографический материал
