Struve, Otto

Struve, Otto

(born Aug. 12, 1897, Kharkov, Ukraine, Russian Empire—died April 6, 1963, Berkeley, Calif., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. astronomer. The great-grandson of Friedrich G.W. von Struve, he suspended his studies to serve in the Russian army in World War I before immigrating to the U.S. On the staff of Yerkes Observatory, he made important contributions to stellar spectroscopy and astrophysics, notably the discovery of the widespread distribution of hydrogen and other elements in space. He served as director of Yerkes (beginning 1932) and later of McDonald Observatory in Texas, which he organized. He later taught at the University of Chicago (beginning 1947) and UC-Berkeley, and he directed the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, W.V. (1959–62). A prolific writer, he published about 700 papers and several books.