PULKOVO -OLD, CAPITAL OF POSITIONAL ASTRONOMY

Otto Struve

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	The title of this article is a designation which the American astronomer Benjamin Gould coined when he attempted to evaluate the progress in positional astronomy which had come about through the work of the astronomers at Pulkovo. In thus praising the accuracy of the Pulkovo star positions, Gould was not alone. The Royal Astronomer of England, Sir George Airy, in 1947 stated that no modern astrometricist could consider himself sufficiently trained until he had learned the methods developed at Pulkovo, since single observation made at Pulkovo is at least as valuable as two made elsewhere.” One year later the French scientist Biot published an even more enthusiastic report after a visit to Pulkovo: “No astronomical organization has ever before been conceived upon an equally broad foundation, or has been so carefully thought through, or so lavishly equipped: Hence, today Russia possesses a scientific memorial, of which there is no greater anywhere else in the world.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 2, Number 9
Pages:	302 - 305
Cite this article:	Struve, Otto, "PULKOVO -OLD, CAPITAL OF POSITIONAL ASTRONOMY", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 2, No. 9, 1951, pp. 302-305.
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