Pavel Alexandrovich Molchanov (russian: Павел Александрович Молчанов) ( in Volosovo,

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. ...

– October 1941 in

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 ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

and the inventor of the first Russian

radiosonde A radiosonde is a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere usually by a weather balloon that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them by radio to a ground receiver. Modern radiosondes measure or calcula ...

in 1930, while the French Pierre Idrac (1885-1935) and Robert Bureau (1892-1965) were the first to develop the radiosonde in 1929.

Biography

Molchanov graduated from Petersburg University in 1914, worked in the Main Physical (Geophysical) Observatory in Pavlovsk between 1917 and 1939 and then at the institute of civil air fleet in Leningrad. He studied possibilities of applying aerological data to the

weather forecast Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th cent ...

. Molchanov constructed meteorographs, carried by sondes and aircraft and improved

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

observation technique. A radiosonde of his design was first launched on January 30, 1930. Named "271120", it was released 13:44

Moscow Time Moscow Time (MSK, russian: моско́вское вре́мя) is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia, and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second-westernmost of the eleven time zones of Russia. It has b ...

in Pavlovsk,

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

from the Main Geophysical Observatory and reached a height of 7.8 kilometers measuring temperature there (-40.7 °C). Thirty-two (32) minutes after the launch, the radiosonde sent one of the first aerological message to the Leningrad Weather Bureau and Moscow Central Forecast Institute, only one year after the French's experiment. In July 1931, conducting programme of the

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, German scientists invited him to take part in an expedition into the

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onboard LZ 127 ''Graf Zeppelin'' and launch his radiosondes in polar latitudes. Twelve sondes were prepared for that purpose at Pavlovsk Observatory under Molchanov's leadership and successfully launched, conducting the first aerological observations in the Arctic. Molchanov also participated in first Soviet

stratospheric balloon High-altitude balloons are crewed or uncrewed balloons, usually filled with helium or hydrogen, that are released into the stratosphere, generally attaining between above sea level. In 2002, a balloon named BU60-1 reached a record altitude of ...

ascents (1933–34). Since 1935 serial production of radiosondes was started in Leningrad. Molchanov's radiosonde construction was so perfect technically, that it was used until 1958 without any significant changes, providing sufficient accuracy of measurements, regularity and stability. In April 1941, Molchanov was arrested by Stalin's secret police. During transport on a prison barge on Lake Ladoga, Molchanov was shot while attempting to climb a ladder to get fresh air. Soviet Oceanographic Ice-Class

Research Vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

'' Professor Molchanov'', operated since 1983, was named in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molchanov, Pavel 1893 births 1941 deaths People from Volosovo Russian geophysicists Russian meteorologists Soviet scientists Soviet inventors Soviet meteorologists