B.P. Gerasimovich - astrophysicist and man

In memory of the Director of the Pulkovo Observatory Boris Petrovich Gerasimovich, the

New Director immediately declares that “the Pulkovo Observatory lost the primordial world significance that it had in the second half of the 19th century” and indicates “the need to return to its former leading role” due to entering the world level of astrophysical research (although not leaving aside the traditional).

He was from Ukraine. He graduated from Kharkov University. In his second year in 1912, he wrote an article, “Aberration of light and the theory of relativity,” published in Russian and French astronomical bulletins. Despite the fact that the theory of relativity was recently created.

His calling was astrophysics, he worked on solving global problems. Gerasimovich, in particular, proposed a more fundamental than the existing coordinate system of greater cosmological significance. This suggestion was highly praised by Shapley, director of the Harvard Observatory, where Gerasimovich worked in the 1920s.

Appointment to Pulkovskaya for him, perhaps, was not the most pleasant. Outback, the former astronomical capital of the world. Yes, and the climate, in comparison with his native, is below average. He was appointed head of the astrophysical sector. Then all sorts of overturbations, subsidies, "instructions of party leadership" - he lodges a complaint with Glavnauk. And here follows the appointment of a director. Could this please him, one of the leading astrophysicists in the world? Household problems, repairs ... Well, Shapley is also the director of the observatory, although he would hardly have understood what economy his colleague Geras was put on, in the American way, overseas astronomers turned to him.

Gerasimovich responds to the new Shapley theory, which, for the first time proving the position of the Sun off-center and quite distant from the center of the Galaxy, came to the conclusion that the Milky Way has enormous dimensions (up to 300 thousand light years, i.e. 10 times its real dimensions), and with its complex structure, it is more likely not a separate stellar system, but a complex Super-System, including all visible other spiral and other galaxies, otherwise - a Super-galaxy.


Harlow Shapley

But even as an employee of the Pulkovo Observatory, first as head of the Astrophysical Sector, Gerasimovich turned to Shapley regarding vacancies in the United States, he even agreed to get a teacher of theoretical mechanics instead of scientific status. But that was already during the Great Depression ... The beginning of the 30s. At the same time, Boris Petrovich is forced to write Shapley allegorically about this. In letters, they discuss the “problem of the spectrum in the far ultraviolet,” understood by them as providing a vacancy to Gerasimovich in the United States.

"The strength of the Harvard Observatory is not in the instruments (then still very modest), not in the brilliance of the abilities of the workers, but in the wonderful organization of scientific work and the tasks that it has set for itself."

So Gerasimovich spoke about the practice of working under the leadership of Shapley.

He also noted the following.

“The director is her almost unlimited chapter .... [as] a true inspirer of the work of the observatory [he] ... is its moral chapter, the authority of which everyone willingly submits to. This authority does not suppress young workers at all; on the contrary, constant communication with the director is lively and friendly, strengthening young minds, pushing forward and not backward. ”

Boris Petrovich also called Harvard's important traditions that at a low salary (by US standards) the astronomers of the observatory did not allow themselves to be part-time in other places, and the director protected both himself and the scientific staff from the “routine work of bookkeeping and reporting, etc. character "

Gerasimovich was a member of leading international and national astronomical societies. In 1935, he was awarded the title of Honorary Member of the London Royal Astronomical Society.


Gerasimovich and Dnieper in America, at the Congress of the International Astronomical Union (1932).

Before deciding to hire employees at the Pulkovo Observatory, Gerasimovich looked at the applicant for a long time (usually about a year: he even developed a whole system for this). The general atmosphere in the observatory (according to the memoirs of old-timers) was very democratic: any manifestation of enthusiasm in the work was understood and respected by Boris Petrovich, but at the same time Gerasimovich, encouraging his employees to work independently, was always guided by the principle of “trust, but verify”. in case of disobedience to discipline or an irresponsible attitude to the work, Gerasimovich could be sharp.


B.P. Gerasimovich - Director of the Pulkovo Observatory

Sometimes he called an employee and said: “An article on the subject of your work appeared in such a magazine, but I did not find your application for this magazine.” After that, there followed such a “scam” that they avoided getting a second time ...

***

Nikolai Ivanovich Dneprovsky (1887 - 1944?) Russian and Soviet observer astronomer, graduate of Moscow University (1911). Member of World War I (three orders), since 1915 - employee of the Pulkovo Observatory, since 1932 - deputy. directors. He specialized in fundamental astrometry (together with other employees, he compiled three catalogs of declination of stars and a catalog of them, as well as the most practically valuable catalog of 1334 "geodesic" stars, brighter than 6m, 1927). Together with B.P. Gerasimovich, he proposed (1932) a program for compiling a fundamental catalog of faint (that is, the most distant, "fixed" stars) as a new coordinate grid for astronomical measurements. (Implemented only after the Second World War). His great merit was also the organization in 1920 of the first Soviet high-precision radio technical service of time. In 1936(like other leading Pulkovo employees) was arrested, becoming one of the victims of political repression in the country. The actual year of his death (rather, death) is unknown, officially reported is doubtful.

***

In connection with the approaching 100th anniversary of the Pulkovo Observatory, in early 1939, academicians S. I. Vavilov and G. A. Shayn in letters addressed to the USSR Prosecutor A. Ya. Vyshinsky petitioned for the review of the affairs of B. P. Gerasimovich and other Pulkovo astronomers and participation in their fates. In particular, they wrote: “In 1936-1937. In some astronomical institutions of the USSR, and especially in the Main Astronomical Observatory in Pulkovo, a large number of scientists were arrested. The number of actively working astronomers in our country is small (80–90 people) and therefore the arrest of a large group (people 20) is striking ... Some of the convicts we knew for many years and it seemed to us that they were loyal Soviet citizens ... we’ll indicate, for example that B.P. Gerasimovich in 1926–1929I was in America (a long business trip and a scholarship) and acquired such a strong scientific name that I received an offer to take a director's post at one of the observatories.

If we add that he was there with his wife and he did not have children then, the return characterizes him quite well. One of the undersigned could sometimes observe from the side how B.P. Gerasimovich (former director of the Pulkovo Observatory) received foreign scientists and covered certain phenomena of our life. Subsequently, it was possible to read some reviews of these persons already in foreign publications, and a positive impression of our country can be seen in them ... ”

* Links to sources:
1) LENGTH LIFE. B.P. Gerasimovich - H. Shapley, F. Schlesinger et al. (1919–1937)
A.I. Yeremeyeva Cand. Phys.-Math. Sci., Senior Scientific Researcher GAISH
7i.7iskusstv.com/y2020/nomer3/eremeeva

2) A star of exceptional magnitude. Boris Petrovich Gerasimovich. Journal Science and enlightenment. No. 4, 2004. Kharkov.