Glazenap, Sergei Pavlovich

BornPavlov (Rostov Oblast), Russia, 25 September 1848

DiedLeningrad (St. Petersburg, Russia), 12 April 1937

Sergei Pavlovich Glazenap was a practitioner of theoretical astronomy, a textbook author, and an avid popularizer of astronomy.

Glazenap completed his undergraduate studies at the University of St. Petersburg in 1870. Afterwards, he pursued graduate studies at the Pulkovo Observatory and in Germany. He returned to the University of St. Petersburg in 1877 and served as professor of astronomy from 1885 to 1924.

Glazenap’s research concerned the orbits of the satellites of Jupiter, the constant of aberration, and the observation and calculation of the orbits of binary stars. To the latter, he contributed a simplified, graphical method for calculating the true orbit from the apparent one. He likewise adapted the sun ring, an instrument used for measuring the Sun’s zenith distance, as a device for determining times from the corresponding altitudes of the Sun.

In 1890, Glazenap helped...