Struve Conference in Kharkov, Ukraine
On May 21-23, 2007, the Astronomical Institute of the V. N. Karazin
National University (Kharkov Observatory), and the Ukrainian
Astronomical Association will co-host a Scientific-Memorial Conference
dedicated to Otto L. Struve. Struve, famous in the United States as one
of America's leading 20th century astrophysicists, was born in Kharkov
in 1897. The son of Kharkov University Observatory director Ludwig
Struve, grandson of Pulkovo director Otto W. Struve, and great-grandson
of Pulkovo Observatory founder Wilhelm Struve, Otto Struve himself
studied astronomy in Kharkov before being caught up in the whirlwind of
the 1917 Russian revolutions and the ensuing civil war. An officer in
General Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army, Struve escaped Russia together
with the remnants of Denikin's army when the anti-Bolshevik movement
collapsed. After months in a Turkish refugee camp, in 1921 Struve made
his way to Yerkes Observatory, thereby beginning a long and
distinguished career in the U.S.
Although well-known in the U.S., Struve was virtually a non-person in
the Soviet Union. Too famous on the international scene to be ignored
completely, references to Struve in Soviet literature were short and
always glossed over his Kharkov roots and anti-Bolshevik past.
The May conference in Kharkov marks an important event in the
restoration of Struve's legacy in his home town. It will include the
unveiling of a memorial plaque and the opening of a new history museum
at the Kharkov Observatory, where a number of documents from the
personal papers of Wilhelm Struve and Otto W. Struve will be on display
for the first time. (A significant portion of the Wilhelm and Otto V.
Struve papers are archived in Kharkov.) The conference is expected to
attract astronomers and historians from Ukraine, Russia, Europe, and the
U.S.
For further details and registration information, go to
http://www.astron.kharkov.ua/conference/struve2007/index.html
or contact Organizing Committee chair Marat Balyshev in Kharkov
([log in to unmask], +38 050 566-4988 mob. phone) or Robert McCutcheon
in the Office of Environment, Science, and Technology at the U.S.
Embassy in Moscow ([log in to unmask], +7 [495] 728-5156).
Dr. Steven J. Dick
NASA Chief Historian
Director, NASA History Division
Office of External Relations
NASA Headquarters
300 E Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20546-0001
202 358 0383 (PH)
202 358 2866 (Fax)
[log in to unmask]
------ End of Forwarded Message
|