Xanfomaliti Leonid Vasilyevich General data:
28.01.1932 - 07.09.2019
Place of birth: Kerch city, Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Studied in: M. I. Kalinin Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (since 2015 Great Peter St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University) (1956);
Key interests: astrophysics, physics of planets, instruments and devices, space missions, exploration of the Moon, popularization of astronomy. PhD Thesis: Polarimetry of the Moon based on electronic technology (1963 ); ScD Thesis: Thermal asymmetry of Venus (1977 );
Biography:
He was born on January 28, 1932 in Kerch city of Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
In 1956 he graduated with honors from M. I. Kalinin Leningrad Polytechnic Institute.
From 1958 to 1967 he worked at the Abastuman Astrophysical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR as head of the Astronomical Electronics Laboratory.
In 1963 he defended his dissertation on the study of the Moon on the topic "Polarimetry of the Moon based on electronic technology."
Since 1968 he has been working at the Institute of Space Research of the USSR Academy of Sciences (RAS), from head of the sector to chief researcher and Head of the Laboratory of Photometry and IR Radiometry of the Department of Physics of Planets and Small Bodies of the Solar System. He performed 19 space experiments on the study of Mars, its satellite Phobos and Halley's Comet, as well as ground research on Mercury and the Moon.
He has been a member of the International Astronomical Union since 1973. He is also a member of COSPAR and other international scientific organizations.
In 1977 he defended his doctoral dissertation on the study of Venus on "Thermal asymmetry of Venus."
In 1978-1982 he discovered the electrical activity of the Venusian atmosphere in experiments conducted by the Venus spacecraft, which was later confirmed by research on the USA spacecraft, in particular the PIONEER-VENUS spacecraft. The scientist first put forward the concept of volcanism of Venus, which was confirmed. Radiometric experiment on VENUS-9 and VENUS-10 devices in 1975 was awarded the Republican State Prize.
In 1969-1970 he developed a set of scientific instruments for MARS-2 and MARS-3. In 1974 he first used the method of alimetry in the bands CO2y 2 μm on the devices MARS-4 and MARS-5, where he set up 5 experiments.
In 1986, on VEGA-1 and VEGA-2, together with the Enrico Fermi Institute of the University of Chicago, he installed a cometary dust particle mass analyzer, from 10-13 to 10-9 gram.
In 1989, he installed a radiometer-photometer on the FOBOS device and showed that the reflective spectrum of Phobos has a pronounced "red" character.
In 1989-1996 he developed a spectrophotometer for the MARS-96.
In 1992-1997 he developed a project of a space experiment to study the regolith of celestial bodies by holographic method.
In 2011-2016 (some sources indicate 2012) he hypothesized the existence of signs of life on Venus based on the results of the application of modern methods of image processing to photographs obtained by Soviet spacecraft "Venus-9", "Venus-13" and "Venus-14".
In recent years, he has devoted his work to the study of the planet Mercury with the help of new terrestrial astronomy and the development of a new space mission project to this planet. In terrestrial astronomical observations in 1998-2010, he obtained permitted millisecond images of the planet Mercury.
The scientist was a permanent member of the editorial board of the Astronomical Bulletin. He was a member of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on astrobiology, a member of the RAS commission on space toponymy.
He received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and a number of other government awards. He received the title of "Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation" in 1999.
He died on September 7, 2019 in Moscow City.
Known as an astrophysicist, a specialist in the study of the planets of the solar system, a popularizer of science. He is the author of more than 390 scientific and popular science works on the study of the bodies of the solar system.
During the study of Venus, the International Astronomical Union named it L.V. Xanthomaliti of asteroid 7394 Xanthomalitia.
Main publications:
1. Ксанфомалити Л. Находки в SNC-метеорите ALH 84001 // Астроном. вестник. 1997. Т. 31. № 3.
2. Ксанфомалити Л. Спор о происхождении находок в метеорите ALH 84001 продолжается // Астроном. вестник. 1998. Т. 32. № 6.
3. Ксанфомалити Л. Парад планет. М.: Наука, 1998
4. Ксанфомалити Л. Поиск систем внесолнечных планет с помощью спектрального метода лучевых скоростей и астрометрии // Астроном. вестник. 1999. Т. 33. № 6.
Sources:
1 Астрономы России 1917-2017/ науч. ред. А.М.Черепащук, Казань, Казан. фед. ун-т, 2017.- 568с- C.244
2 ru.wikipedia.org
3 Фалилеев Н. М. Леонид Ксанфомалити. Рыцарь Венеры // Воздушно-космическая сфера : журнал. — 2020. — № 3. — С. 110—117.
