Aleksandr Orlov

Orlov, Aleksandr Iakovlevich 

Born Mar. 25 (Apr. 6), 1880, in Smolensk; died Jan. 28, 1954, in Moscow. Soviet astronomer. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1927) and academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1939).

Orlov graduated from St. Petersburg University in 1902. From 1913 to 1934 he was a professor and director of the astronomical observatory at the University of Odessa. From 1926 to 1934 and from 1938 to 1951 he was director of the Poltava Gravimetric Observatory, and from 1944 to 1949 and in 1951–52, he was director of the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Under Orlov’s direction, work was conducted in 1926 on a gravimetric survey of the Ukraine, the study of tidal variations in the force of gravity, and changes in latitude. Orlov investigated the annual and free motion of the instantaneous axis of rotation of the earth and obtained very precise data on the motion of the earth’s poles. He did most of his work in theoretical astronomy, seismometry, and magnetometry. Orlov was awarded the Order of Lenin and two other orders, as well as a number of medals.

REFERENCES

Astronomiia SSSR za tridtsat’let, 1917–47. (Collection of articles.) Moscow-Leningrad, 1948. (Contains a bibliography.)
Aksent’eva, Z. N. “Zhizn’ i deiatel’nost’ Aleksandra Iakovlevicha Orlova (1880–1954).” In Trudy 11-i astronomicheskoi konferentsii SSSR (Pulkovo, 24–26 maia 1954). Leningrad, 1955.