F and bredikhin short biography. School encyclopedia. Staring at the stars

\u003e Fedor Bredikhin

Biography of Fyodor Bredikhin (1831-1904)

Short biography:

Education: University of Moscow

Place of Birth: city of Nikolaev, Kherson province, Russian Empire

A place of death: Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire

- Russian astronomer: biography with photos, discoveries and contributions to astronomy, the founder of Russian astrophysics, prominences of the Sun, comets and Jupiter's spot.

Fyodor Alexandrovich Bredikhin (1831 - 1904) can be called without exaggeration the founder of Russian astrophysics. This is the direction of astronomy, which deals with the study of the physical properties and composition of celestial bodies. Despite the fact that since Peter I came to rule the state, some observation of celestial bodies has been carried out in Russia, astrophysics has not yet existed as a full-fledged science.

During the first years of his career, he worked at the Moscow Observatory. It is to this institution that Russian astrophysics owes its appearance.

The foundation of the Moscow observatory falls on 1831. It was built in the area of \u200b\u200bthe "three mountains" near the Presnenskaya outpost, which at that time was the outskirts of the city and a sparsely populated point. The observatory had the most modern astronomical instruments at that time, for example, a four-inch telescope, equipped with all the necessary devices. In 1859 it was replaced by a ten-inch refractor.

Eleven years later, starting work in 1859, Bredikhin very persistently and diligently observed the Sun every day in clear weather conditions, making sketches of huge emissions of incandescent gas (prominences) above its surface. The observations he made over the surfaces of Mars and Jupiter were of great value. The scientist devoted a lot of time to studying the well-known "red spot" in the atmospheric layers of Jupiter, the nature of which is still unknown.

Bredikhin's scientific works, based on years of study of comets, were recognized by his colleagues all over the world. In those days, comets were carefully studied. They were considered "tailed stars", moving in a specific orbit around the sun. Due to the fact that their orbits are very elongated ellipses with a huge length, the period of their revolution around the star can be thousands and even tens of thousands of years.

The comet has a significantly thinned head, tail and solid core, which, as it approaches the Sun, begins to emit particles of matter from which the tail is formed. In those days, it was also known that these particles are affected by two forces: attraction to the sun, which has a huge mass, and repulsion, the nature of which has not yet been studied. Although by that time scientists had accumulated a lot of materials on the observation of the nature of comets, they needed processing and generalization. There was no theory that would explain the origin of comets and the essence of the phenomena observed in them.

During his years at the Moscow Observatory, Bredikhin made careful observations of 50 comets. Calculating and comparing the speed of motion of particles of comet tails and the magnitude of the repulsive force experienced by comets when approaching the Sun, he noticed that with all the sufficiently large variety of tails of these celestial bodies, three types can be distinguished from them. In the first type of tails, the repulsive force produced by the Sun is many times (several tens) greater than the force of attraction. These tails look like an almost straight line directed in the opposite direction to the star in a straight line that connects the Sun and the comet's nucleus.

The second type of tails corresponds to repulsion, which is 0.5 - 2.2 times more powerful than the force of solar attraction. They are characterized by the form of braids with curvatures, facing in the direction opposite to the Sun and turned in the opposite direction relative to the motion of the comet.

The third type of comet, identified by Bredikhin, has short, rectilinear tails that deviate significantly from the straight line that connects the Sun and the comet's nucleus. The repulsive force acting on such a tail is not much higher than the value of the attractive force.

Although at that time there was no exact information about the composition of the cometary tail, the scientist quite correctly assumed that the existence of different types of cometary tails can be explained by differences in their composition.

In addition to the classification of comet tails, Bredikhin created and developed in detail a mechanical theory of the processes that occur in comets. It still forms the basis of cometary astronomy thanks to the accurate explanation of the shapes of comets.

The nature of the repulsive forces affecting cometary tails became known when the outstanding Russian physicist P.N. Lebedev proved the exercise of pressure by beams of any light on the body illuminated by them. Thus, the repulsive force acting on the cometary tail arises as a result of the pressure that the sun's rays produce.

The scientific works of Bredikhin, in which he investigated the origin of meteors, were also recognized. These celestial bodies, called "shooting stars", are small debris that fall from space into the atmosphere of our planet. When they come into contact with air, they heat up with the emission of bright light, which is why they are destroyed. When small, they turn into dust before reaching the Earth's surface.

According to Bredikhin, meteors appear as a result of the decay of comets. When observing comets, he discovered that some of them have altered tails, which have projections in the form of a cone, located in the direction from the comet's nucleus towards the Sun. Investigating this phenomenon, the scientist suggested that they consist of a large amount of small solid matter formed by the decay of the cometary nucleus.

This assumption turned out to be correct - as it was proved, colliding with meteorites consisting of stone moving in space, the nucleus of the comets disintegrates with the formation of a mass of small meteorites that accompany the comet as it moves in orbit.

The scientist's works were recognized by scientists all over the world, and in 1877 he was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Then he was elected an honorary member of a number of foreign scientific societies. After his election in 1890 as a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, F. A. Bredikhin was appointed director of the Pulkovo Observatory.

Having occupied a high position, Bredikhin began to struggle with the predominance of foreigners in the country's scientific circles. Many responsible posts were occupied by foreigners, mainly Germans. This was reported by F.A. Bredikhin in a report for 1891 on the work of the Pulkovo Observatory headed by him. He argued about the need to provide access to scientific studies at the observatory and the employment of graduates of Russian universities in it.

This idea was implemented by him at the beginning of his management of the observatory. The foreign representatives were replaced by young gifted Russian astronomers. The most famous of them is Aristarkh Apollonovich Belopolsky.

Bredikhin launched extensive research in the field of astrophysics. The greatest attention was paid to the systematic observation of prominences and sunspots. New types of astrophysical equipment have appeared at the observatory, for example, the stellar spectrograph, which allows studying the composition of stars, and the astrograph, a telescope equipped with a camera, used to take photographs of celestial bodies.

During the short period of leadership of the Pulkovo Observatory - five years, Bredikhin founded a fruitfully working astrophysical department in the institution, which is still operating in our time. During the last nine years of his life, the scientist was engaged in theoretical research, paying most attention to cometary astronomy.

F. Bredikhin has always been at the forefront of Russian science, contributing to its development and prosperity and insisting on the education of his own scientific personnel. He did not support various idealistic scientific trends, opposing them together with the outstanding Russian biologist Timiryazev, the world-famous physicist Stoletov, as well as many other Russian scientists.

Throughout his scientific career, Bredikhin created and published more than 150 scientific works, which are still of particular value for astronomy. Professor Tserasky, who served as director of the Moscow Observatory, spoke about this at the funeral of the scientist in 1904, arguing that every time a comet appears in the sky - a heavenly wanderer, observing it around the globe, people will remember the glorious name of the scientist.

Fedor Alexandrovich Bredikhin (1831-1904)

Fedor Aleksandrovich Bredikhin is widely known throughout the world as one of the largest astronomers of the 19th century, primarily as the creator of the theory of cometary forms and the theory of the origin of meteor showers from comets. However, the place of honor occupied by F.A.Bredikhin in the history of Russian science is associated not only with the remarkable fruits of his scientific activity, but also with the outstanding role that he played in the development of all Russian astronomy by reorganizing the Pulkovo Observatory.

Fedor Aleksandrovich Bredikhin was born on December 8, 1831 in Nikolaev. His father, Alexander Fedorovich, was a sailor of the Black Sea Flotilla and participated in the Turkish campaign of 1827-1829. A year before the birth of his son, he retired with the rank of lieutenant commander. Fedor Alexandrovich's mother - Antonida Ivanovna - was the sister of Admiral Rogul, the second commandant of Sevastopol during his heroic defense.

F. A. Bredikhin spent his childhood on the estate of his parents in the Kherson province. Here his tutor was Z. S. Sokolovsky, a retired director of the Kherson gymnasium, a mathematician, an excellent teacher who inspired his student with respect and love for science. In 1845 fourteen-year-old F. A. Bredikhin was placed in a boarding school at the Richelieu Lyceum in Odessa, and from 1849 he became a student at the Lyceum. But the lyceum did not satisfy him, and in 1851, he transferred to Moscow University to the physics and mathematics faculty, which he graduated in 1855. At the university, at first he was primarily interested in physics and intended to enter the navy or artillery in the future. But in his last year, he took part in the work of the astronomical observatory, and then his vocation was determined.

Two years after graduating from the university, F. A. Bredikhin, without interrupting his work at the observatory, passed his master's examinations and was appointed acting adjunct in the Department of Astronomy. His first scientific work, published in 1861, bore the title: "A few words about cometary tails." This work was a harbinger of the main direction of his scientific activity.

In 1862 F. A. Bredikhin defended his master's thesis "On the tails of comets" and soon began to fulfill the duties of an extraordinary professor. Three years later, he received his doctorate for the dissertation "Perturbations of comets, not dependent on planetary gravities" and became an ordinary professor.

During the 60s and 70s, the teaching of astronomy at Moscow University was mainly carried out by F. A. Bredikhin. He possessed an exceptionally bright lecturing talent, which manifested itself both in his university lectures, which attracted a large audience of students from different faculties, and in popular lectures that enjoyed a resounding success. One of his listeners (B. A. Shchetinin) writes in his memoirs: "I remember that Bredikhin's lecture made a very strong impression on me. This short man, extremely agile and nervous, with a sharp, piercing gaze of greenish-gray eyes, like He immediately electrified the listener, attracted all the attention to himself.Enchanting lecturer talent beat him with a key, then scattering with sparkles of sparkling wit, then captivating with tender lyrics, then captivating with the beauty of poetic metaphors and comparisons, then striking with powerful logic and bottomless depth of scientific erudition ".

Public lectures in the auditorium of the Polytechnic Museum, speeches at the annual certificates of the university, popular articles published in various journals, made F.A.Bredikhin wide popularity even before he became famous for his scientific research.

However, later, towards the end of the 1980s, F. A. Bredikhin lost interest in both university and public lectures. In an effort to quickly return to the observatory for scientific work, he shortened the reading time and even skipped lectures altogether, especially during periods of greatest enthusiasm for any kind of research.

In 1867 F. A. Bredikhin received a business trip abroad and went to Italy for a year. There he became acquainted with the then new field of application of spectroscopy to the study of celestial bodies and, in addition, with enthusiasm, as he did everything, he began to study Italian literature, even translating the works of some authors in verse. He translated the tragedies "Virginia" by Alfieri (published in the "Bulletin of Europe" in 1871), "The Duke of Milan" (published in the magazine "Krugozor") and "Francesca da Rimini" by Silvio Pellico.

In the summer of 1869 F. A. Bredikhin was transferred to Kiev University as a professor of astronomy. But two months later, he made a request to transfer him back to Moscow: "The awareness that the connection with Moscow and Moscow University, which I served for the 12 best years of my life, has been severed for me, is so unbearably difficult that, remaining here, I I will hardly be capable of further professorship ... I am only comforted by the thought that perhaps the opportunity has not yet been lost to return to the environment of my recent comrades ... ". The request was granted, and in the same year F. A. Bredikhin returned back to Moscow. He again takes an active part in the life of the university and, in particular, in the revision of its charter. Attraction of three years (1873-1876) he. was dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics.

In 1873, the director of the Moscow Observatory, B. Ya. Schweitzer, died and FA Bredikhin was appointed to his place. Under the leadership of FA Bredikhin, the activities of the Moscow Observatory are completely transformed. The astrometric direction of the observatory's work is replaced - for the first time in Russia - with a sharply expressed astrophysical direction. Spectroscopic and photographic equipment is being replenished, and regular spectral observations of the Sun begin, and then its photography; the spectra of comets and nebulae are studied, star clusters are measured with a micrometer, the surfaces of Mars and Jupiter are sketched, a method for photometric observations of stars is developed, and solar and lunar eclipses are observed. Many of these observations are being made personally by the energetic new director.

The famous Russian astronomer A. A. Belopolsky, in a speech dedicated to the memory of F. A. Bredikhin, at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences (1904), characterized this aspect of F. A. Bredikhin's activities in the following words: “When he was director of the Moscow University Astronomical Observatory, he zealously engaged in observations (1873-1890). He made a lot of observations with the help of all kinds of instruments. Especially valuable at that time and remarkable should be considered observations of prominences on the Sun using a spectroscope. At that time, only very rare scientists were engaged in this, and Fedor Alexandrovich conducted his observations with remarkable persistence during the whole eleven-year period of sunspot-forming activity on the Sun. In the same place, in Moscow, he makes the most difficult spectroscopic observations of that time and his measurements of the spectral lines of comets and gaseous nebulae surpassed all then known measurements in accuracy. "

Having assumed the post of director, F. A. Bredikhin immediately began to publish the "Annals of the Moscow Observatory" and in 17 years published 12 volumes, almost 40 printed sheets each. The Annals were compiled with the participation of only two or three assistants, and two-thirds were filled with FA Bredikhin's own research.

During this Moscow period of F.A.Bredikhin's activity - the most productive period of his life - the characteristic features of his nature were fully manifested: the need for vigorous activity, a huge passion for work - a hobby with which he infected his students and employees, love for communicating with young people ... Academician A. A. Belopolsky said in his speech: “He directly fascinated his students with his personality, his wit, cheerful and lively conversation, subtle observation and extraordinary simplicity of handling: in conversation with him, his high scientific and social position was forgotten. since then I remember the time of my stay at the observatory in Moscow in his company, in his family, as the most gratifying time in my life. There, for the first time after university, I understood what it means to work inspired by an idea, hard work, systematic. what scientific interest is. Fyodor Aleksandrovich infected with his scientific activity, his example, and it was a true school, a true university for a beginner. "

Along with versatile astrophysical observations, management of the observatory's activities and university lectures, FA Bredikhin continued and deepened his studies of comets. The idea, expressed by Kepler that the formation of a cometary tail is due to the repulsive action of the Sun on the matter forming the tail, was clothed by Bessel in a mathematical form in 1835. At the beginning of his research, in the 60s, F. A. Bredikhin used (in corrected form) approximate Bessel formulas.

With their help, he studies the initial velocities with which matter is poured out of the core when a comet approaches the Sun, and determines the repulsive force of the Sun, which makes this matter, escaping first towards the Sun, bend and then rush away from it. Dozens of comets are examined one after another - all for which one can find suitable observations in various scientific journals and observatory papers.

Considering the gradually accumulating material, F.A.Bredikhin in 1876 suggested that there is a certain relationship between the initial velocity of particle emission and the magnitude of the sun's repulsive force, and that all comets are divided into three groups according to the magnitude of the sun's repulsive force acting on the matter in their tails ... By 1878, this assumption had become a certainty, and since then a new stage of research has begun. The approximate Bessel formulas, the insufficiency of which had already been revealed earlier, were replaced by strict formulas of hyperbolic motion, and more accurate quantitative studies of comet tails were carried out. These studies revealed the following picture.

Some comets - for example, the bright comets of 1811, 1843, 1874 - had straight tails directed almost directly from the Sun, only slightly deviating in the direction opposite to the motion of the comet. F.L.Bredikhin calculated that the repulsive force of the Sun acts on the particles forming these tails, which he called Type I tails, which is 12 times greater than the Newtonian attraction. He later increased this figure to 18 and, in addition, he encountered cloud formations that moved in similar tails under the action of forces several tens of times greater than gravity. (There are now known cases of repulsive forces thousands of times greater than gravity.)

Other comets, such as the comet Donati in 1858, had broad tails that were curved like a horn. In these tails, which FA Bredikhin called type II tails, the repulsive force varies from 2.2 at one edge to 0.5 at the other.

Finally, there are tails of another type - usually short, weak and very strongly deflected back from the straight line connecting the comet with the Sun. FA Bredikhin called them type III tails; the particles of these tails are subject to repulsive forces that do not exceed 0.3 of the Newtonian attraction.

Thus, in the tails of the III type and at one edge of the tails of the II type, the particles move under the influence of weakened attraction, and their paths relative to the Sun are hyperbolas, facing it with a concavity. But in the tails of type I and at the other edge of the tails of type II, repulsion prevails over attraction, and therefore the particles move along hyperbolic paths, convex towards the Sun.

Among the bright comets, which were mainly investigated by FA Bredikhin, type I and type II tails are found approximately equally often, and type III tails - 1 1/2 times less often. Moreover, many of the bright comets had tails of different types at the same time. This was consistent with the physical explanation of the division of tails into three types put forward by F.A.Bredikhin back in 1879.

Considering all tails to be gas and assuming the electrical origin of repulsive forces, he suggested that these forces should be inversely proportional to molecular weight, and, therefore, different types of tails should differ from each other in chemical composition. Assuming that type I tails contain the lightest element - hydrogen, it could be concluded that type II tails consist of hydrocarbons, metalloids and light metals, and type III tails - of heavy metals. At that time, these predictions were extremely bold, since then in the spectrum of comets, in addition to the continuous spectrum of the Sun, only three bands of the Swann spectrum were observed, which was attributed to hydrocarbons (as is now known, it actually belongs to the carbon molecule C 2). But three years later, F.A.Bredikhin himself and other astronomers noticed a yellow sodium line in the spectrum of the first comet in 1882, and a little later in the spectrum of the second comet in 1882, at the moment of its closest approach to the Sun, iron lines were recorded.

FA Bredikhin's hypothesis about the hydrogen composition of type I tails was not confirmed - they turned out to be composed of ionized molecules of carbon monoxide (CO +) and nitrogen (N2 +). It turned out that along with gas tails, there are dust ones (type III tails). But, nevertheless, the division of cometary tails into three types, given by F.A.Bredikhin, passed through all the tests of time, and, supplemented and refined, it still remains the basis for the classification of cometary forms. The study of many comets, not only bright, but also faint, showed that type I tails are found most often, and type III tails, on the contrary, are very rare.

New formulas introduced by F. A. Bredikhin to study the motion of particles ejected from the cometary nucleus made it possible not only to refine the data relating to cometary tails, but also to explain the complex and incomprehensible phenomena observed in some comets. Simple mechanical assumptions underlying these formulas made it possible to easily and clearly explain both the wavy outlines of the tail, and the transverse stripes in the tail, and the movement in the tail of cloud masses.

The investigations of FA Bredikhin created a mechanical theory of cometary forms, which has preserved to this day all its significance, gradually enriched in physical content as our knowledge of the nature of phenomena occurring in comets grows.

In 1889, F. A. Bredikhin put forward a hypothesis about the formation of periodic comets by separating parts from the parent comet moving in a practically parabolic orbit. This hypothesis explained the existence of the so-called families of comets - groups of comets with surprisingly similar orbital elements.

Studying all the details of the structure of comets, F. A. Bredikhin drew attention to the so-called anomalous tails - small appendages at the head, directed towards the Sun, present in some comets. He realized that they consist of larger particles that are practically not repelled by the Sun and therefore move relative to the Sun in much the same way as the comet's nucleus moves. The difference is due only to the small additional velocity with which the particles of the anomalous tail left the comet's nucleus.

These considerations allowed F.A.Bredikhin to develop his famous theory of the origin of falling stars (meteors), which some astronomers credit him even more merit than the mechanical theory of cometary forms. The Italian astronomer Schiaparelli, who twenty years earlier had established, on the basis of observations, the close relationship of comets and meteor showers, explained the formation of a meteor shower by the gradual disintegration of a periodic comet. FA Bredikhin showed that comets moving in orbits close to parabolic can form meteor showers. Among the large particles released from the core and forming an anomalous tail, there are those that have a speed relative to the Sun that is slightly higher than the speed of the core, therefore, higher than the parabolic speed. These particles will leave the solar system forever, moving in hyperbolic orbits. But there are also such particles (there are especially many of them after the comet passes through perihelion - the point of the orbit closest to the Sun), the speed of which is less than parabolic; these particles will begin to orbit the sun in elliptical orbits. If the orbits of a swarm of particles formed in this way intersect the orbit of the Earth, then every year when the Earth passes through the meeting point, particles of the swarm will crash into its atmosphere with tremendous speeds, giving an instant flash of "shooting stars" - meteors.

The theory of the formation of periodic comets and the theory of the origin of meteors complete the Moscow period of F. A. Bredikhin's activity. The works of this period, published both in the Annals of the Moscow Observatory and in other Russian and foreign scientific publications, brought FA Bredikhin world fame and recognition. In 1877 he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. This was followed by his election as an honorary member of almost all Russian scientific societies related to astronomy or mathematics. He was particularly closely associated with the Moscow Society of Nature Experts, of which he was a member from 1862, and from 1886 to 1890 - its president. In the Moscow Mathematical Society, he was one of the founding members (it was organized in 1864). After moving to St. Petersburg in 1890, he became the first president of the then organized Russian Astronomical Society.

In 1883 he was elected a member of the Leopoldino-Carolina Academy in Germany; in 1884 - honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society in London and the Liverpool Astronomical Society; in 1889 - Corresponding Member of the Italian Society of Spectroscopists, as well as the Mathematical and Natural Science Society in Cherbourg. In 1892, the University of Padua awarded FA Bredikhin an honorary doctorate, and in 1894 he was elected a corresponding member of the Bureau of Longitudes in Paris.

It should be noted that F. A. Bredikhin almost never traveled abroad and therefore had almost no personal acquaintances there; he was known for his scientific works.

In 1890, F. A. Bredikhin was elected a member of our Academy of Sciences and appointed director of the Pulkovo Observatory. Despite the flattery of this appointment, F. A. Bredikhin reluctantly left the Moscow Observatory, with which he became so close. But, having moved to Pulkovo, he immediately acted as an energetic reformer; this time, these transformations concerned not only the scientific activities of the observatory, but also its public face. At that time, the Pulkovo Observatory, which had long won world fame for its scientific work, had a weak connection with Russian universities and Russian science. The staff of the observatory consisted mainly of foreigners, and an unhealthy isolation reigned in it, an unwillingness to replenish its staff with young Russian forces.

The goals that F. A. Bredikhin set himself in the struggle against these traditions are reflected in his very first report (1891): “When I entered the management of the observatory, it was an immutable truth for me that theoretically educated pupils of all Russian universities, who felt and those who have declared their vocation to astronomy, must be given, within the limits of the possibility, free access to every practical improvement in this science, and then to the occupation of all scientific posts at the observatory. on the other hand, only in this way can Russian universities always have candidates who are so knowledgeable and experienced in practical astronomy that, upon reaching their scientific degrees, they can be entrusted with both teaching astronomy and running university observatories with full hope of success. "

According to the charter of the Pulkovo Observatory, its director was charged with the obligation to maintain live communication with Russian and foreign observatories. Therefore, in 1892 F. A. Bredikhin went abroad and visited the observatories in Berlin, Potsdam, Paris, Meudon and Grinich. But a major innovation that was of great importance in the development of Russian astronomy was that before that he had traveled to almost all Russian observatories, visiting Moscow, Kharkov, Nikolaev, Odessa, Kiev and Warsaw. Familiarization with the needs of these observatories allowed FA Bredikhin to further assist in replenishing their equipment. But much more important was the uplift that caused the astronomers of these observatories to visit their venerable scientists, and those trips to Pulkovo that followed. These were not short return visits, but a long stay for purely scientific purposes; for some of the guests, these visits to Pulkovo ended with the transition there to permanent work. At the same time, FA Bredikhin, in violation of tradition, began to allow supernumerary astronomers not only to computationally process other people's observations, but also to independently work on all the instruments of the observatory.

S. K. Kostinsky, a student and long-term collaborator of F. A. Bredikhin, wrote (1904): "Having a broad scientific view, he was clearly aware that all our theories based on observations must continuously be verified by similar observations, that while doing theoretical calculations in astronomy, we must tirelessly direct our gaze to the sky (both figuratively and literally!) and that only a harmonious combination of practice with theory can lead us along the correct path of evolution of our science, as its entire history clearly shows Fyodor Aleksandrovich often said that “you cannot reduce all astronomy to one calculation or to reversing old formulas in a new way” and that “he is not an astronomer who cannot observe himself!” Because such a person would not even be critical of to the material that he puts in the basis of his calculations and theoretical considerations. And where there is no strict and impartial criticism, there is no science! "

The attraction of new Russian astronomers to Pulkovo, the systematic development of astrophysical research, concern for the financial situation of employees, a sincere desire to develop the spirit of the public and unanimity - all this led to a complete change in the scientific and public face of the Pulkovo Observatory.

AA Belopolsky gave an excellent assessment of F. A. Bredikhin's activities in Pulkovo: “As a truly Russian man, he with remarkable energy for his time, one might say against the current, defended scientific national identity; he did his best to instill it in his closest students; as much as he was modest and demanded reasonable scientific modesty from his students, as much as he was an enemy of the unjust humiliation before the West in Russian people.

This feature manifested itself with particular force during the short-term management of the Pulkovo Observatory: one must admit that the uplift of spirits at that time among all its employees was absolutely extraordinary, and if you look from the point of view of the history of the development of science in Russia, then F.A. Bredikhin said as one of his major services to the fatherland. "

At Pulkovo FA Bredikhin no longer observed, but continued theoretical studies of comets and meteor showers. However, extensive administrative activities not only interfered with scientific research, but also affected the health of the scientist, who was already in his seventh decade. Confident that his ideas and reforms had already firmly established themselves in the Pulkovo Observatory, F. A. Bredikhin at the beginning of 1895 left the post of its director and moved to St. Petersburg.

Photographic observations of comets, which began at the end of the 19th century, provided him with new material that confirmed his theory of cometary forms. He continues to research meteors. From under his pen came one after another scientific articles, which are printed mainly in the publications of the Academy of Sciences - the institution in which he was one of the most active members (the total number of scientific articles published by F. A. Bredikhin exceeds 150).

The love of communicating with people does not fade away in the heart of the aged scientist, and at his table, as before, long scientific conversations and lively debates flare up. Pupils and staff turn to him for advice on scientific and personal matters and always meet with a friendly response and assistance.

In 1902, F. A. Bredikhin established a prize at the Moscow Observatory for a work that "must present in an appropriate system and completeness the results obtained by Academician Bredikhin in his mechanical studies of cometary forms." This essay was written under the supervision of Bredikhin himself by the young Moscow astronomer R. Jägerman, and in 1903 a voluminous volume "Prof. Dr. Th. Bredichin" s mechanische Untersuchungen über Cometenformen was published. In systematischer Darstellung von R. Jaegermann.

In the same year, all articles on meteors were revised by the authors and, with minor amendments, reprinted all together under the title "Etudes sur l" origine des meteores cosmiques et la formation de leurs courants "..

In early May 1904, F. A. Bredikhin caught a cold at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences and on May 14, 1904, died quietly from heart paralysis. He was then 73 years old. The day before his death, he continued to be interested in the movement of the telescopic comet that appeared then.

On May 16, members of the Academy of Sciences and Pulkovo astronomers honorably escorted FA Bredikhin's ashes to the Moscow railway station, and on May 20 he was buried in the family crypt at the Pogost estate near Kineshma.

The works of FA Bredikhin are a precious treasure of astronomical science.

As prof. VK Tserasky - his successor as director of the Moscow Observatory, - "every time a heavenly wanderer descends to us from the bottomless depths of the stellar vault, a huge circle of people will repeat the name of Bredikhin."

The main works of F. A. Bredikhin: About comet tails (master's thesis, 1862), M.-L., 1934; Recherches sur les queues des cometes, Annals of the Moscow Observatory, 1879-80, v. V, VI, VII; Sur l "origine des cometes periodiques, ibid., 1890, series 2, vol. I; Sur I" origine des etoiles filantes, ibid .; Prof. Th. Bredichin "s mechanische Untersuchungen über Cometenformen. In systematischer Darstellung von R. Jaegermann, St. Petersburg, 1903; Etudes sur l" origine des meteores cosmiques et la formation de leurs courants, 1903.

About F.A.Bredikhin:Kostinsky S.K.,F. A. Bredikhin (Essay on life and work), "Russian astronomical calendar for 1905"; Pokrovsky K. D.,F. A. Bredikhin. Biographical sketch (in the book of F. A. Bredikhin "On the tails of comets", M. - L., 1934); Orlov S.V.,On the centenary of the birth of F. A. Bredikhin, "Mirovedenie", 1931, no. 3-4.

Astrophysics is a branch of astronomy that studies the physical nature of various celestial bodies. Although individual astrophysical observations of celestial bodies have been made in Russia since the time of Peter the Great, astrophysics as a whole, as a science, has not yet existed. The great Russian astronomer Fedor Aleksandrovich Bredikhin (1831-1904) is rightfully considered the creator of Russian astrophysics.

The first period of his work took place at the Moscow Observatory, where, in fact, astrophysics was born for the first time in Russia.

The Moscow Observatory began its existence in 1831. It was built on the outskirts of Moscow in a then sparsely populated area on the "three mountains" near the Presnenskaya Zastava. The observatory was equipped with the latest astronomical instruments, including a four-inch telescope with attachments, which was replaced in 1859 by a 10-inch refractor.

With extraordinary perseverance and diligence, Bredikhin for eleven years, starting from 1859, daily in clear weather observed the Sun, sketching gigantic protuberances of incandescent gases (prominences) .. His observations of the surfaces of Mars "Jupiter were of great importance. Bredikhin carefully studied the famous "red spot" in the atmosphere of Jupiter, the nature of which remains mysterious to this day. But Bredikhin's works in the field of the study of comets, which brought him worldwide fame, are of particular importance. Comets, these "tailed stars" that terrified our distant ancestors, in the time of Bredikhin became the subject of careful study. By the beginning of Bredikhin's work on comets, it was known that comets are celestial bodies moving around the Suns "along certain orbits (paths). These orbits are, in most cases, very elongated ellipses of enormous size, due to which the periods of revolution of comets around the Sun can be estimated at thousands and tens of thousands of years.

In addition to a rarefied head and tail, each comet has a solid core, which releases particles that form a tail when approaching the Sun. Finally, it was known that the particles that form the tails of comets are affected not only by the forces of attraction to the Sun, but also by the repulsive forces of an unknown nature emanating from the Sun. To this we can add that by the time of Bredikhin's activity, a lot of various information about comets had accumulated, requiring generalized conclusions. A unified theory of comets and the phenomena occurring in them did not yet exist at that time.

Working at the Moscow Observatory, Bredikhin undertook a thorough study of 50 comets. He calculated the particle velocities of the cometary tail, as well as the magnitude of the repulsive force emanating from the sun for various comets. It turned out that despite all the variety of cometary tails, they can be divided into three main types. Bredikhin attributed tails to the first type, in which the repulsive forces emanating from the sun are tens of times greater than the force of its attraction. These are almost straight tails, directed away from the Sun along a straight line connecting the Sun with the comet's nucleus.

To the tails of the second type Bredikhin attributed those tails, in each of which the repulsive forces are from 0.5 to 2.2 times greater than the force of attraction to the Sun. These tails look like curved braids directed away from the Sun and curved in the direction opposite to the motion of the comet.

Finally, Bredikhin classified short rectilinear tails strongly deviated from the straight line connecting the Sun with the comet's nucleus to the third type; in these tails, the repulsive forces only slightly exceed the force of attraction to the Sun.

Despite the lack of accurate data on the composition of cometary tails at that time, Bredikhin made a completely correct conclusion that the difference in the types of cometary tails is explained by the difference in their composition.

Bredikhin did not confine himself to a simple classification of cometary tails. For the first time in the history of astronomy, he created and developed in detail a mechanical theory of phenomena occurring in comets. This theory, which in its main outlines completely correctly explains the observed forms of comets, is the basis of modern cometary astronomy.

The nature of the repulsive forces acting in cometary tails became known after the work of the great Russian physicist P.N. Lebedev, who at the beginning of this century proved that the rays of any light, including the sun, exert pressure on illuminated bodies. Consequently, the repulsive forces acting in cometary tails are the forces of pressure from the sun's rays.

Bredikhin's works devoted to the origin of meteors are of great importance. "Falling stars" or meteors, are small solid particles that invade our Earth's atmosphere from space. Under the influence of air resistance, these particles are heated, emitting light, and destroyed. If their size is small enough, then they do not reach the earth's surface, being completely dispersed in the atmosphere.

Bredikhin considered meteors to be a product of comet decay. In some comets, they discovered the so-called anomalous (abnormal) tails, which were cone-shaped protrusions directed from the cometary nucleus towards the Sun. According to Bredikhin, these tails consist of a swarm of small solid particles, into which the solid cometary nucleus disintegrated.

Indeed, as we now know, the nuclei of comets, when colliding with celestial meteoric stones, collapse, forming a swarm of meteoric bodies following the comet in its orbit.

Thus, Bredikhin was not only the founder of astrophysics in Russia, but also created, in essence, a new branch of astronomy - cometary astronomy.

Bredikhin's research attracted the attention of the entire scientific world, and in 1877 the Russian Academy of Sciences elected Bredikhin its corresponding member. In subsequent years, a number of foreign scientists from societies elected Bredikhin as their honorary member. "In 1890, F. A. Bredikhin was elected a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and was appointed director of the Pulkovo Observatory.

Having assumed this high post, Bredikhin waged an implacable struggle against foreign dominance in Russian science. The fact is that in those days in Pulkovo, as in other scientific institutions, there were quite a few foreigners, in particular Germans, who occupied important positions. That is why F.A.Bredikhin's report on the work of the Pulkovo Observatory in 1891 says:

“At the very entry into the management of the observatory it was an immutable truth for me that theoretically educated pupils of all Russian universities, who felt and declared their vocation to astronomy, should be given, within the limits of their ability, free access to complete practical improvement in this science, and then to the occupation of all scientific posts at the observatory. "

This patriotic plan was carried out by Bredikhin in the first years of his work at Pulkovo. A number of foreigners and "officials from science" were expelled from the Pulkovo Observatory, and in their place Bredikhin nominated young talented Russian astronomers, of whom Aristarkh Apollonovich Belopolsky became especially famous later.

Bredikhin widely developed astrophysical research, in particular, systematic observations of sunspots and prominences. The equipment of the Pulkovo Observatory was replenished with new astrophysical instruments, in particular, the so-called stellar spectrograph for studying the composition of stars and a special telescope with a camera - an astrograph designed for photographing celestial bodies.

Despite his short tenure as director (5 years), Bredikhin managed to firmly establish an astrophysical department in Pulkovo, which continues its fruitful work to this day. Bredikhin devoted the last 9 years of his life to theoretical research mainly in the field of cometary astronomy.

FA Bredikhin was an advanced Russian scientist who fought in every possible way against any blind admiration for foreignism. He opposed all idealistic trends in science, being on a par with the great Russian biologist Timiryazev, the greatest Russian physicist Stoletov and other progressive Russian scientists.

"Every time a heavenly wanderer (ie a comet) descends from the depths of the arch of the stars, a huge circle of people in all corners of the globe will repeat the glorious name of Bredikhin."

Fedor Aleksandrovich Bredikhin was a researcher of almost all the main branches of astronomy of his time.

F. Bredikhin was born in 1831 in Nikolaev. He graduated from the Odessa gymnasium, and then the Richelieu Lyceum - a higher educational institution in Odessa. The Lyceum was created by decree of Emperor Alexander I in 1817, and in 1865 it was transformed into the Novorossiysk Imperial University. Named in honor of the Odessa mayor and governor of Novorossiya A.E. de Richelieu, to whom it owes its existence. In 1855 he graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University, with which his further activities were connected: here he defended his master's thesis, worked as the dean of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty. For seven years (1873-1890) he was director of the Moscow Astronomical Observatory. This is what this observatory looked like at the time.

F. Bredikhin created the “Moscow astrophysical school”. From 1890 to 1895 - director of the Nikolaev Main Astronomical Observatory in Pulkovo.

Research in astronomy

He made observations on the meridian circle. Meridian circle - an astronomical device designed to determine the coordinates of the stars. It is a telescope capable of aiming at objects only in the plane of the celestial meridian. By measuring the zenith distances of the stars at the time of the passage of the celestial meridian, as well as fixing the moments of time of these passages, it is possible to determine the celestial coordinates of the stars. The measurement accuracy on the modern meridian circle is about 0.2 ". The meridian circle came into use in the 17th century. Before that, quadrants were used for such observations. In the picture you can see the meridian circle of the Kunstkamera observatory (St. Petersburg).

Using a refractor (optical telescope), he measured the positions of minor planets (asteroids) with a micrometer, investigated the errors of the micrometer screw and the so-called personal errors of the observer.

With the direct participation of F.A. Bredikhin began systematic observations of the solar chromosphere with a prominence spectroscope, photographing sunspots and torches. Chromosphere - the outer shell of the Sun and other stars about 10,000 km thick, surrounding the photosphere.

He also explored the surfaces of the Moon and the planets Mars and Jupiter. In 1875, he was among the first to study the chemical composition of emitting gaseous nebulae. He made a significant contribution to other areas - from instrumental optics to gravimetry (geophysical and geodetic method, which consists in measuring the field of gravity. As a rule, the object of gravimetry is the Earth).

Study of comets

The study of comets was the main direction in the research of F.A. Bredikhin. He created the most complete at that time "mechanical theory of cometary forms", which made it possible to describe the movement of matter not only near the head, but also in the tail of a comet. The essence of this theory is as follows: comet tails consist of particles emitted from the cometary nucleus in the direction of the Sun and then begin to move away from the Sun under the influence of its repulsive forces. Bredikhin determined the acceleration values \u200b\u200bfor several dozen cometary tails, which allowed him in 1877 to create their classification, according to which comet tails are divided into three main types. In 1884, he also identified a fourth type of tails (abnormal), which is rare and only in combination with normal. Bredikhin's classification of cometary forms has survived to this day. On the basis of his theory, Bredikhin made a number of conclusions about the chemical composition of the tails of various comets, but they were not confirmed.

On the picture - three types of cometary tails according to FA Bredikhin.

A tail is formed when a comet approaches the Sun. Under the influence of solar radiation, the comet nucleus heats up and luminous matter begins to flow out of it. The particles ejected from the core are subjected to a repulsive force from the Sun, so their initial movement towards the Sun under the influence of gravity turns into motion from the Sun.

But the outflow of matter from the cometary nucleus can occur in different ways. In some cases, it occurs in the form of a continuous ejection of particles of matter, for which the repulsive force is approximately the same. And then the ejected particles form a continuous comet tail. The particles of matter are located in it depending on when they were ejected from the nucleus: those previously ejected will be at the end of the tail, ejected later will be in the middle of the tail or at the beginning of it, closer to the nucleus (in general, the direction of the tail will have the form of a curve, which F. A. Bredikhin called sindinama - "one-strong", since the tail is formed by particles with the same repulsive force).

In other cases, the ejection of matter from the comet's nucleus occurs not in a continuous stream, but in the form of separate eruptions. With each such eruption, particles are emitted, for which the repulsive force is different. They do not form clouds of matter, but stretch into a strip, in which they are located depending on the magnitude of the repulsive force. Thus, as a result of the eruption, a strip is formed in the form of a curve, which F. A. Bredikhin called synchronous - "simultaneous", since the particles of matter constituting it are ejected from the core at a time. A series of consecutive, approximately parallel syncs form the observed tail. Thus, Bredikhin established that in the nature of the formation of cometary tails, the magnitude of the repulsive force acting on the particles of matter ejected from the nucleus is of primary importance; both the shape and structure of the tail turn out to be dependent on it. Therefore, he devoted a lot of time and attention to calculating the magnitude of the repulsive force acting during the formation of tails in various comets. These calculations led him to the conclusion that under the influence of such forces of different magnitudes, three types of tails are formed ... Tails of the first type he named the tails formed under a repulsive force 18 times greater than the force of gravity (Newtonian attraction); they are almost straight, with a slight curvature in the direction from which the comet is moving. Later, Bredikhin, and then other researchers, discovered that in some cases, significantly greater repulsive forces can act during the formation of tails. Second type tails are formed with a repulsive force ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 gravity; usually these tails are highly curved. Tails of the third type are formed with a repulsive force much less than the force of gravity. Therefore, they are almost perpendicular to the imaginary line connecting the Sun to the comet's nucleus.

Criticizing his predecessors and scientific opponents, Bredikhin rebelled especially sharply against attempts to reduce the theory of cometary tails to their mechanical classification. At the beginning of his research, he rejected Olbers' proposed separation of comets into three types: tailless comets, comets with a tail away from the Sun and comets with a wide dark stripe in the middle of the tail. Bredikhin showed that the same comets at different distances from the Sun can have a different appearance, therefore, their nature is constantly changing under the influence of various causes and differently acting forces. A profound interpretation of natural phenomena, considered in motion and in interaction, the rejection of simplified mechanistic explanations make Bredikhin's theory of cometary forms one of the most outstanding achievements of natural science in the second half of the 19th century.

He was one of the first to study the spectra of cometary heads. He developed and expanded the theory put forward by J. Schiaparelli of the formation of meteor showers as a result of the decay of the comet nucleus. The results of these studies were published in "Studies on the origin of cosmic meteors and the formation of their streams" (1903).

Activities as director of the Pulkovo Observatory

F. Bredikhin expanded the scientific program of the observatory. If earlier in Pulkovo they were engaged in astrophysics on a small scale, then under the leadership of Bredikhin astrophysical work is gaining in scope, new powerful equipment is being installed for them, and extensive cycles of spectral and astrophotographic research begin. He drew attention to the extremely favorable climatic conditions for astrophysical work in Odessa and Tashkent; with his assistance, new instruments are purchased for observatories in these cities, and young astrophysicists who have completed school in Pulkovo begin to work there. Having spent five years as the director of the Pulkovo Observatory, Bredikhin fulfilled his task: the observatory was firmly placed in the service of national science. In 1895 he left the post of director. Completion of the theory of cometary forms and participation in the work of the Academy of Sciences were the main content of the last years of the scientist's life.

He died of pneumonia on May 14, 1904 and was buried, according to his will, in the village of Vladychnoye (now Zavolzhsk).

He left behind not only scientific works, but also his astrophysical school. In the works of his outstanding students - Tserasky, Belopolsky, Kostinsky - the main sections of astrophysics were further developed: stellar photometry, spectroscopy, astrophotography.