Maksutov, Dmitrii

Maksutov, Dmitrii Dmitrievich 

Born Apr. 11 (23), 1896, in Odessa; died Aug. 12, 1964, in Leningrad. Soviet scientist, a specialist in astronomical optics. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1946).

In 1914, Maksutov graduated from the Military Engineering School in St. Petersburg. He constructed many precise optical mirrors and objectives. In 1930 he organized the laboratory for astronomical optics at the Leningrad Institute of Optics. Beginning in 1952 he worked at the Pulkovo Observatory. His research was primarily devoted to the problems of perfecting shadow and other optical methods of investigation, the technology of producing large optical instruments, and the theory and practice of constructing aspherical surfaces. He invented meniscus systems of optical instruments.

A recipient of the State Prize of the USSR (1941, 1946), Maksutov was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Badge of Honor, and several medals.

WORKS

Izgotovlenie i issledovanie astronomicheskoi optiki. Leningrad-Moscow, 1948.