Fyodor Aleksandrovich Bredikhin (russian: Фёдор Александрович Бредихин, 8 December 1831 – 14 May 1904 ( O.S.: 1 May)) was a Russian

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

. His surname is sometimes given as Bredichin in the literature, and non-Russian sources sometimes render his first name as Theodor.

Information

In 1857 he joined the staff of the

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

Moscow University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, becoming its director in 1873. In 1890 he became director of Pulkovo Observatory (until 1894) and in the same year became a member of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

. He studied the theory of

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

tails, and also studied

meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as micr ...

s and

meteor shower A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extre ...

s. The

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

786 Bredichina 786 Bredichina (Minor planet provisional designation, ''prov. designation'': ''or'' ) is a carbonaceous and very large background asteroid, approximately in diameter, located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German ...

and the crater Bredikhin on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

are named after him. The is awarded by the

References

Bibliography

External links

Obituary AN 165 (1904) 351/352
(in German)

1831 births 1904 deaths Astronomers from the Russian Empire Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences 19th-century astronomers Imperial Moscow University alumni {{Europe-astronomer-stub