Savich, Aleksei

Savich, Aleksei Nikolaevich 

Born Mar. 18, 1811, in Belovodsk, in what is now Sumy Oblast; died Aug. 15, 1883, in Tula Province. Russian astronomer. Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1862).

Savich graduated from Moscow University in 1829. From 1833 to 1839 he worked at the Dorpat Observatory under the direction of V. Ia. Struve. In the period 1839–80 he was a professor at St. Petersburg University. His principal works dealt with the determination of the orbits of comets, planets, and satellites, refraction, and barometric leveling. From 1836 to 1838, Savich conducted a leveling of the land between the Black and Caspian seas. Together with P. M. Smyslov and R. E. Lents, he was the first in Russia to make a determination of the force of gravity using reversible pendulums along an arc of the meridian (1865–68). Savich was the author of a major course on astronomy (1874–84), as well as other educational works.

REFERENCE

Novokshanova-Sokolovskaia, Z. K. Kartograficheskie i geodezicheskie raboty ν Rossii ν XlX-nachaleXX v. Moscow, 1967.