Dmitry Dmitrievich Maksutov
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Dmitry Dmitrievich Maksutov (russian: Дми́трий Дми́триевич Максу́тов) ( – 12 August 1964) was a Russian /
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
optical engineer Optical engineering is the field of science and engineering encompassing the physical phenomena and technologies associated with the generation, transmission, manipulation, detection, and utilization of light. Optical engineers use optics to solve ...
and
amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers m ...
. He is best known as the inventor of the
Maksutov telescope The Maksutov (also called a "Mak") is a catadioptric telescope design that combines a spherical mirror with a weakly negative meniscus lens in a design that takes advantage of all the surfaces being nearly "spherically symmetrical". The negative ...
.


Biography

Dmitry Dmitriyevich Maksutov was born in 1896 in either Nikolayev or the port city of
Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
,
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. His father, was a naval officer serving with the
Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...
, who came from a family with a long and distinguished naval tradition. His great-grandfather, Peter Ivanovich Maksutov, was given the title of prince, thereby raising the family to hereditary nobility as a reward for bravery in combat. His grandfather,
Dmitri Petrovich Maksutov Prince Dmitry Petrovich Maksutov (russian: Дми́трий Петро́вич Максу́тов, May 10, 1832 – March 21, 1889) was an Imperial Russian Navy rear-admiral who was the last Governor of Russian America (1863–1 ...
, was the last Russian governor of Russian Alaska, before it was purchased by the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1867. Dmitri became interested in astronomy in early childhood, and constructed his first telescope (a 7.2 inch / 180 mm
reflector Reflector may refer to: Science * Reflector, a device that causes reflection (for example, a mirror or a retroreflector) * Reflector (photography), used to control lighting contrast * Reflecting telescope * Reflector (antenna), the part of an ant ...
) when he was twelve years old. Later he read publications by the Russian optician Alexander Andreevich Chikin (1865–1924), who became his teacher. He constructed a much better 10 inch (210 mm) reflector and began serious astronomical observation. At 15 years of age he had already been accepted as a member of the Russian Astronomical Society. Three years later he graduated from the Military Nikolayev Engineering Institute in what was then
Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
(a.k.a.
Saint Petersburg, Russia Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
), now the Saint Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University. Between 1921 and 1930 he worked at the Physics Institute of the University of Odessa in the field of astronomical optics. In 1930 Maksutov established the Laboratory of Astronomical Optics at the State Optical Institute of
Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
and led it until 1952. This laboratory was one of the leading astronomical research groups in the USSR. While there he published ''Анаберрационные отражающие поверхности и системы и новые способы их испытания'' berration-free reflective surfaces and systems and new methods of testing them(1932), in which he analyzed aplanatic double mirror systems and introduced the compensating method, which he proposed as early as 1924. This became the main control method of
mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...
study along with the shadow method. In 1944 he became a professor as a result of his paper, and from 1946 a Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1952 he worked in Pulkovo Observatory. Maksutov died in what was then Leningrad (a.k.a. Saint Petersburg) in 1964.


Inventions

Maksutov's most well known contribution in the field of optics was made in 1941, when he invented the
Maksutov telescope The Maksutov (also called a "Mak") is a catadioptric telescope design that combines a spherical mirror with a weakly negative meniscus lens in a design that takes advantage of all the surfaces being nearly "spherically symmetrical". The negative ...
. Like the Schmidt telescope, the Maksutov corrects for
spherical aberration In optics, spherical aberration (SA) is a type of optical aberration, aberration found in optical systems that have elements with spherical surfaces. Lens (optics), Lenses and curved mirrors are prime examples, because this shape is easier to man ...
by placing a corrector lens in front of the primary mirror. However, where the Schmidt uses an aspheric corrector at the entrance pupil, Maksutov's telescope uses a deeply curved full diameter negative
meniscus lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...
(a "
meniscus corrector shell A meniscus corrector is a negative meniscus lens that is used to correct spherical aberration in image-forming optical systems such as catadioptric telescopes. It works by having the equal but opposite spherical aberration of the objective it is ...
"). He published the design in 1944 in a paper entitled "Новые катадиоптрические менисковые системы" ew catadioptric meniscus systemsDmitri Maksutov: The Man and His Telescopes
by Eduard Trigubov and Yuri Petrunin.
This method was adopted not only by his own laboratory for many of the most important observatories in the Soviet Union, but also internationally. Several commercial telescope-making companies produce Maksutovs, including Celestron, Meade, and Questar. He created many objective lenses,
mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...
s, and
prism Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...
s of various sizes and purposes. He also created a photo-gastrograph (used for photographing the stomach), a needle-
microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...
, shadow instruments for aerodynamic tubes, telescopic spectacles, and other instruments.


Awards

* Stalin Prize (1941, 1946) *two Orders of Lenin (1945,1958) *Order ''The Badge of Honour'' (1943) *''Grand Prix'' at the
Expo '58 Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (french: Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles de 1958, nl, Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling van 1958), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Bel ...
in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...


See also

*
List of astronomical instrument makers The following is a list of astronomical instrument makers, along with lifespan and country of work, if available. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V ...
*
Albert Bouwers Albert A. Bouwers (1893–1972) was a Dutch optical engineer.Ian Ridpath, "Bouwers telescope", ''A Dictionary of Astronomy'', 199first sentence of article/ref> He is known for developing and working with X-rays and various optical technologies as a ...
– in 1940 independently invented a meniscus telescope similar to the Maksutov


References


External links


Biography
- on the website of ''Vavilov State Optical Institute''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maksutov, Dmitri Dmitrievich 1896 births 1964 deaths Scientists from Odesa People from Odessky Uyezd Russian untitled nobility 20th-century Russian astronomers Soviet astronomers 20th-century Russian inventors Optical engineers Soviet inventors Military Engineering-Technical University alumni Recipients of the Order of Lenin Stalin Prize winners