Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1927

1896 - 1984

Nicholas Bobrovnikoff was born in Russia and entered the United States in 1924. Lived in Markovka 1896-1900, in Starobielsk 1900-1914, Petrograd 1914-1917, student at Petrograd Polytechnic Institute, Petrograd Institute of Technology, and Vladimir Military
School. In Russian Army July 1917-June 1918, then 4 months at Kharkov University, then Dec 1918-Feb 1920 in Denikin Army, wounded. Refugee camp in Cyprus Feb 1920-Sep 1921. Four months in Greece and Yugoslavia. Nov 1921-Sep 1924, Prague, Czechoslovakia at Charles University. 1924- 1927 at the University of Chicago and Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay WI, Ph.D. Jun 1927. Postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and Lick Observatory 1927-1930. Professor of Astronomy at Ohio Wesleyan and Ohio State Universities, Director Perkins Observatory. Retired in 1970 and moved to Berkeley. Short biography by Donald E. Osterbrock in Mercury, 15:46-50,63, 1986. Asteroid 2637 (A919 SB) named Bobrovnikoff in his honor, "New names of minor planets" in International Astronomical Union Minor Planets Circular July 24, 1983. "The asteroid was discovered Sept. 22, 1919 by K. Reinmuth at Heidelberg. Named in honor of Nicholas T. Bobrovnikoff, director of the Perkins Observatory from 1934 to 1951, currently preparing an authoritative history of astronomy. Perhaps best known for his pioneering investigations on the effect of aperture size on the observed total magnitude of comets, he made an exhaustive investigation of the 1909-11 apparition of Halley's Comet and prepared in manuscript form a comprehensive catalogue of physical observations of comets. His spectroscopic study showing differences in the surfaces of minor planets, published in 1929, was 'so far ahead of its time that it was overlooked'. Following suggestions by D. D. Meisel and N. Sperling, the name was proposed by B. G. Marsden, who found the identifications involving this planet."