Aleksandr Obukhov

Obukhov, Aleksandr Mikhailovich 

Born May 5, 1918, in Saratov. Soviet geophysicist. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1970; corresponding member, 1953).

After graduating from Moscow State University in 1940, Obukhov worked at the Geophysical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1956 he became director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He was made a professor at Moscow State University in 1949.

Obukhov’s chief works deal with atmospheric physics, turbulence, and mathematical statistics. Simultaneously with the American scientist H. Hotelling, he proposed the method of canonical correlations. He was one of the creators of the modern theory of small-scale turbulence. Between 1943 and 1954, Obukhov developed a general theory of similarity for turbulent flows in the boundary layer of a thermally stratified fluid. He is the author of fundamental works toward a hydrodynamic theory of short-term weather forecasting. He also proposed a method of statistically orthogonal decompositions of meteorological fields. Obukhov has been awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor and various medals.

WORKS

“O raspredelenii energii v spektre turbulentnogo potoka.” Izv. AN SSSR: Seriia geograficheskaia i geofizicheskaia, 1941, nos. 4–5.
“Struktura temperaturnogo polia v turbulentnom potoke.” Ibid., 1949, vol. 13, no. 1.
“K voprosu o geostroficheskom vetre.” Ibid., vol. 13, no. 4.