Pavel Petrovich Parenago (20 March 1906 – 5 January 1960) was a

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, ...

scientist,

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 ...

, and professor. He served as the head of the Department of Stellar Astronomy at M.V. Lomonosov

Moscow State 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 ...

and a Corresponding Member of the Soviet

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unite ...

Early life and education

Pavel Petrovich Parenago was born into the family of a physician on 20 March 1906, in

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern ...

, present-day

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He completed his middle school education in Moscow in 1922, having begun scientific work while still in senior classes. He went on to graduate from Moscow State University in 1929 as a trained and qualified scientist.

Research

In 1932, Parenago began studies of the structure and kinematics of the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

based primarily on star data. He and a colleague, B.V. Kukarkin, began an extensive compilation of

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as ...

data. During his studies, Parenago observed approximately 3,000 stars in the

Orion nebula The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the nig ...

region of the galaxy, the nearest star creating region to the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. Parenago then assumed a post at Moscow University as reader in

stellar astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, ...

, becoming the first person to teach a lecture course on the subject of galactic astronomy in the Soviet Union in 1934. In 1939, he gained full professorship and organized the Department of Stellar Astronomy, which he was named head of in 1940. Parenago then authored a textbook entitled ''Course in Stellar Astronomy''. In 1940, Parenago began investigating the absorption of light in

interstellar space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, predo ...

, during which he made discoveries relevant to this area of research. He also had an avid interest in

amateur astronomy 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 ...

and published works and lectured in order to educate the public on the subject. He performed research on

dwarf star A dwarf star is a star of relatively small size and low luminosity. Most main sequence stars are dwarf stars. The meaning of the word "dwarf" was later extended to some star-sized objects that are not stars, and compact stellar remnants which are ...

s, hoping to find a cause for their unusual velocities, as well as the dynamics of star systems. After being elected Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences in 1953, he became the first person to be awarded the Bredikhin Prize, an award founded by the academy, in 1954. In the later part of his life, Parenago spent much of his time revising his earlier works until his death in 1960 after an illness lasting several years.

Recognition

Parenago was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

for contributions to Soviet science. An asteroid, 2484 Parenago, and a

lunar Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon". Lunar may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games * "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta * "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...

crater, Parenago, are named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parenago, Pavel Petrovich 1906 births 1960 deaths Soviet astronomers Moscow State University alumni Moscow State University faculty Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Order of Lenin