Astronomy and Politics in Russia in the Early Stalinist Period (1928–1932)

On the organization of Pulkovo during 1917–28, see Dadaev A. N. , Pulkovskaya Observatoriya (Leningrad, 1972); also see the “Reports of Pulkovo Observatory” (“Otchet o deyatel' nosti glavnoj astronomicheskoj observatorii v Pulkove”) published from 1926 in Astronomicheskij Zhurnal. .

See the “Otchet o deyatel'nosti glavnoj gosudarstvennoj astronomicheskoj observatorii” (“Reports of Pulkovo Observatory”) for 1927–28, 1928–29, 1930, and 1931, in Astronomicheskij Zhurnal , vi/2 (1929), vii/3-4 (1930), viii/2 (1931), and ix/3-4 (1932).

On the Russian Astronomical Union see Trudy II, III i IV astronomicheskikh sezdov 1920–1928 g. (Leningrad, 1930), and Nicolaïdis E. , Le développement de l'astronomie en URSS 1917–1935 (Paris, 1984), 122–30.

“On the planning of astronomical research in the USSR”, Astronomicheskij Zhurnal , ix/3-4 (1932), 318–19, p. 318.

“Rezolutsii astrofizicheskoj konferentsii po planirovaniyu”, Astronomicheskij Zhurnal , x/1 (1933), 118–24, p. 118.

“Otchety observatorii i institutov”, Astronomicheskij Zhurnal , ix/3-4 (1932), 272–302, p. 277.

Voronov M.N. , a 22-year old astronomer who worked at the Tashkent Observatory, claimed in 1935 to have extended Leveau's theory for computing the perturbations of the minor planets from the 2nd to the 3rd order, and that with an amazing computing speed. Astronomische Nachrichten published his results, and he joined the staff of Pulkovo Observatory. A year later, his work proved to be fraudulent. See McCutcheon R. , The purge of Soviet astronomy: 1936–37 , master's thesis, Georgetown University (1985), 144–60.

“Rezolyutsii rasshirennogo plenuma astronomicheskogo komiteta pri Narkomprose RSFSR (10–12 Dekabrya 1931 g.)”, Astronomicheskij Zhurnal , ix/3-4 (1932), 305–8.

“Rezolyutsii rasshirennogo plenuma astronomicheskogo komiteta pri sektore nauki Narkomprosa RSFSR (3–5 iyunya 1932 g.)”, ibid. , 308–15.

For recent information about the purges, see McCutcheon R. A. , “Stalin's purge of Soviet astronomers”, Sky & telescope , lxxviii, no. 4 (October 1989), 352–7.

On the bibliography of Soviet astronomy from 1917 to 1937, see Nicolaïdis , op. cit. , and McCutcheon , op. cit. .