Orlov, Sergei Vladimirovich

Orlov, Sergei Vladimirovich 

Born Aug. 6 (18), 1880, in Moscow; died there Jan. 12, 1958. Soviet astronomer. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1943).

Orlov graduated from Moscow University in 1904 and was a professor there from 1926. From 1943 to 1952 he was director of the Shternberg State Astronomical Institute in Moscow. He developed a new theory of the structure of comet heads, which permitted a rigorous classification of comet shapes. He first posed and resolved the question of the variations in a comet’s brightness in relation to its distance from the sun. He investigated the reasons for the repulsive, accelerating effect of the sun on comet tails. A recipient of the State Prize of the USSR (1943), Orlov was awarded two Orders of Lenin, two other orders, and a number of medals.

WORKS

Komety. Moscow-Leningrad, 1935.
“Proiskhozhdenie komet.” In Uspekhi astronomicheskikh nauk, vol. 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1941.
Golova komety i novaia klassifikatsiia kometnykh form. Moscow, 1945.
“Luchevoe davlenie i gazovye khvosty komet.” Astronomicheskii Zhurnal, 1956, vol. 33, issue 6.
“Luchevye sistemy v golove komety. …” Ibid., 1957, vol. 34, issue 2.

REFERENCES

Astronomiia SSSR za tridtsat’ let, 1917–1947 (collection of articles). Moscow-Leningrad, 1948. (Contains a bibliography.)
“Sergei Vladimirovich Orlov” (obituary). Astronomicheskii Zhurnal, 1958, vol. 35, issue 3.