Born in Moscow, in 1923 he moved to the United States, where he eventually became professor at the University of Virginia and vice-president of the American Astronomical Society.

This work was important because it was the first list of nearby stars identified not by their motions in the sky, but by their intrinsic, spectroscopic, characteristics.

Vyssotsky's survey was carried out at McCormick Observatory using a 10-inch Cooke astrograph, donated by the Carnegie Institution of Washington and refigured by J. W. Fecker.

He served in the Russian army and took part in World War I, where he used his knowledge of French, English and German to translate intercepted radio communications.

After the October Revolution he joined the anti-communist White movement, and after its defeat escaped to Turkey and then to Tunisia, where he worked as a science teacher.