Numerov, Boris

Numerov, Boris Vasil’evich 

Born Jan. 17 (29), 1891, in Novgorod; died Mar. 19, 1943. Soviet astronomer. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1929).

Numerov graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1913. In 1919 he founded the Computational Institute (since 1943 the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), of which he was director until 1936. From 1926 to 1928 he was director of the A. I. Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory, and from 1930 to 1934 chairman of the Astronomical Committee of the People’s Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR. Numerov’s chief works dealt with astrometry, celestial mechanics, and geophysics. He organized the computation of the figures for Astronomicheskii ezhegodnik SSSR (Astronomical Yearbook of the USSR) and instituted its publication in 1922. Numerov was the initiator of a general gravimetric survey of the USSR. He developed and helped introduce new gravimetric methods of prospecting for mineral resources in various regions of the USSR.

REFERENCE

Iakhontova, N. S. “B. V. Numerov (k 70-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia).” Biul. In-ta teoreticheskoi astronomii AN SSSR, 1963, vol. 9, no. 3 (106), pp. 213–15.