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Cerasky Vitold Karlovich (27.04.(09.05).1849 - 29.05.1925)
Born in Slutsk, Belarus in the family of a geography teacher at Slutsk gymnasium. Vitold Karlovich’s childhood was surrounded by his father’s friends — teachers of the gymnasium who instilled in him a love of mathematics, nature, literature and art. The appearance in 1858 of the bright comet Donati aroused an interest in astronomy among nine-year-old Witold. While studying at the gymnasium, he conducted his first astronomical observations with the help of a small pipe from a physical room. In 1867, Tserasky graduated from the Slutsk gymnasium and, despite the difficult financial situation of the family in connection with the death of his father, went to Moscow and entered the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University. Starting from the second year, Tserasky began working at the University's Astronomical Observatory as a supernumerary calculator. In the fourth year, he received a gold medal for an essay on the topic: "Calculation of the elliptical orbit of Mars according to three observations". After graduating from the university in 1871, Tserasky was left at the university with a scholarship, and then he was appointed supernumerary assistant at an astronomical observatory. In 1874, the state commission at the Pulkovo Observatory commissioned Tserasky to Kyakhta, on the border with China, to observe the passage of Venus across the solar disk. Expedition ended unsuccessfully - the clouds are not allowed to make observations. After returning to Moscow, Tserasky was engaged in systematic photographing of the Sun using a heliograph purchased for the expedition. Starting from 1877, Tserasky focused his efforts on astrophotometry - at that time a very young field of astronomical science, with which its main scientific achievements would be connected. It is not by chance that astronomers called Tserasky “the father of Russian astrophotometry” in jubilee welcome addresses. In the second half of the 1870s, Tserasky began teaching. On the recommendation of the director of the Moscow Observatory F.A. Bredikhin was invited to give lectures on physics at the Lubyanka Women's Courses, and then at the Courses V.I. Ger'e, who later became the Moscow Higher Women's Courses. In 1878, Cerasky received the vacant position of an astronomer-observer in the observatory and soon began lecturing at the Moscow Imperial University. In January 1883 he defended his master's thesis "On the determination of the brightness of white stars". From the end of 1883 until the middle of 1884, he was on a scientific mission in Germany, studying the structure of observatories and familiarizing himself with the work of astronomers. In May 1888, he defended his doctoral dissertation in St. Petersburg on the topic “Astronomical Photometer and Its Applications”, becoming a doctor of astronomy and geodesy. In 1889 he made the second large business trip to Europe to study foreign observatories, visiting, in particular, France. In the same year he became an extraordinary professor at Moscow University in the department of astronomy and geodesy. In 1890 Tserasky inherited from F.A. Bredikhin, appointed director of the Pulkovo Observatory, the post of the head of the Moscow University Observatory. Significant renewal and restructuring of the observatory is connected with the directorship of Ceraski They became possible thanks to large government allocations for the redevelopment of buildings at Moscow University and equipment, much of which (about 100 thousand rubles) came from the observatory, and thanks to significant private donations from the university comrade Tserasky entrepreneur A.A. Nazarov. The restructuring and equipment of the observatory in general took 12 years. The most up-to-date instruments began to appear in the observatory: a harmonic analyzer;a tool for photographing the sky on a small scale, but by whole constellations (“equatorial camera”), made by the Dresden mechanic Gustav Heide. In 1891, in the courtyard of the observatory, a tower was built for the Bamberg transit instrument with a retractable roof, modeled on the tower in Nice. The modernization of the instruments of the observatory, carried out under the guidance of Tserasky, determined the subject of observational work possible here until the middle of the twentieth century. The retrofitting and restructuring of the observatory provided it with a leading place in Russian astronomical science, laying the groundwork for its further expansion. This is directly related to the activities of Tseraskiy, who was actively engaged both in improving the instruments of observation and in finding the means to develop the observatory. He sought and found ways to cooperate with all organizations involved in the activities of the observatory in one way or another, which made it possible to significantly strengthen its social status. The modernization of the observatory provided the prerequisites for moving the main scientific center of Russian astronomy from Pulkovo to Moscow, which had already taken place during the Soviet period. In parallel with his concerns about the arrangement of the observatory and the territory adjacent to it, Tserasky continued scientific research, improving methods for measuring the brightness of stars. At the beginning of the 20th century, he also performed a difficult job of measuring the brightness of the sun. With his active participation, a whole range of instruments for astronomical observations was invented or improved. Beginning in 1890 and the next two decades, Tserasky gave basic courses in astronomy at Moscow University: relative, spherical, theoretical and practical astronomy.According to feedback from the audience, Tserasky showed outstanding talent in lecturing, while showing a high degree of respect and attention to his audience. In 1896 he was elected an ordinary professor in the department of astronomy and geodesy of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University. In 1909, in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of teaching, Tserasky became a distinguished professor at Moscow University. In early 1911, he reacted very sharply to the defeat of Moscow University, held by the Minister of Public Education, L.A. Cassot, and left teaching at the university walls. In addition to leading the observatory, teaching and research, Tserasky conducted a significant social and organizational activities at the university. In 1901, he was a member of the commission elected by the Council of Moscow University to consider the issues of the necessary changes in universities. In 1904-1905 he had to work in a very difficult environment. A separate area of activity V.K. Cerasky was popularizing scientific knowledge. He was a member of the Moscow Mathematical Society and an honorary member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists. Along with teaching at the university, an astronomer actively spoke with public lectures at the Polytechnic and Historical museums, in front of students in gymnasiums and schools. Many of his articles devoted to the popularization of astronomical knowledge have been published in the journals "World of God", "Russian thought", "Scientific word", "Russian astronomical calendar". In 1914 V.K. Tserasky was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Over the years of active work, Cerasky raised a whole galaxy of students who formed the main backbone of Moscow astronomers in the following decades. Among them S.N. Blazhko, S.V. Orlov, G.A. Tikhov, A.A. Mikhailov, I.A. Kazan, S.A. Kazakov, I.F. Polak and many others. VC. Tserasky never had excellent health, but starting around 1910, he began to show a disease that the doctors could not exactly determine. Its main manifestation was the progressive general physical weakness of the organism. In 1916, following the advice of doctors, Tserasky refused to take over the leadership of the Moscow Observatory and in the summer with his wife moved to Feodosia, in the hope that its climate would allow health to improve. In Theodosia Tserasky, the revolutionary events and the civil war that began soon began. Being cut off from Moscow and very cramped in funds, the Ceraskies survived these years with great difficulty. MA.Voloshin, in whose house they lived for some time. As soon as it became possible, the wife began to bother about the possibility of transporting her spouse to Moscow or somewhere near her. In 1922, this was done.Tserasky was brought to his son, a doctor of a psychiatric colony in Meshchersky (Podolsky district). At the request of the 1st Moscow State University, the Council of People's Commissars appointed the scientist an enhanced pension, but his state of health continued to deteriorate. On May 11, 1924, a solemn event dedicated to the 75th anniversary of V.K. took place at the Geological Institute of the 1st Moscow State University. Tserasky, organized by the All-Russian Astronomical Union, at which the hero of the day was honored by the entire astronomical community of Russia, but he himself was unable to attend. He died in the village of Troitskoe, Podolsky district, Moscow province, buried at the Vagankovo cemetery. The mountain is in the very south of Geer Land, West Spitsbergen Island. |
