Sharonov, Vsevolod Vasilievich

BornSaint Petersburg, Russia, 25 February/10 March 1901

DiedLeningrad (Saint Petersburg, Russia), 27 November 1964

Soviet astronomer Vsevolod Sharonov was one of the leading proponents of lunar and planetary exploration before the advent of robotic spacecraft. Sharonov enrolled in the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Petrograd University (renamed Leningrad State University) in 1918; he did not complete his degree until 1926, having served in the Red Army (1919–1924). Most of Sharonov’s professional career was spent at Leningrad State University.

In 1929, Sharonov defended his dissertation on the theory and application of the wedge photometer. He worked on problems of aerophotometry at the Institute of Air Surveys (1930–1936) and organized a photometric laboratory for the task. From 1941 to 1944, he directed the university’s astrophysics laboratory, which was evacuated to Yelabuga, Tatarstan, during World War II. Sharonov was appointed professor (1944) and later director (1951) of...