Ludwig von Struve

Gustav Wilhelm Ludwig von Struve was born in 1858 in Tsarskoye Selo – a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located 26 kilometers (16 mi) south from the center of St. Petersburg.

Between 1883 and 1886, Struve was staying abroad in several European observatories, including those in Bonn, Milan, Paris and Leipzig.

Prior to that, such institutions had been nonexistent in Russia, and foreign engineers were personally invited for precision mechanical work.

He himself was a skilled engineer and constructed an instrument for the measurement of "an individual error using artificial star.” This device was invented by H. G. van de Sande Bakhuyzen at the Leiden Observatory and was actively used by Struve.

He also determined the apex coordinates of the Sun's movement and was one of the first astronomers to estimate, in 1887, the rotation rate of the Milky Way.

Between 1908 and 1915, Struve with collaborators determined right ascension and declination of 1407 circumpolar stars, taking about 11,000 observations for each coordinate.

Therefore, to avoid Bolshevik's repressions, Struve had to move in 1919 to Simferopol where he had assumed professor position at the Tavrida University.

He left in Kharkiv a collection of about 1400 historical letters involving his father and grandfather, Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve.