Golitsyn B
NAME: Golitsyn, Boris
ACHIEVEMENT(S): Built one of the first seismographs
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: 2nd March 1862, in St.Petersburg, Russia.
DATE/PLACE/AGE AT DEATH: 17th May 1916, near St.Petersburg, Russia. Aged 54.
DISCIPLINE: Physicist.
FIELD: Seismography.
LANGUAGE: Russian.
EDUCATION: Maritime Academy, 1880-87; University of Strasbourg, 1887-90.
MAJOR WORK: 'Lectures on Seismometry', 1912.
LIFE AND TIMES: Golitsyn came from a line of Lithuanian princes and, intended for a naval career, he attended St. Petersburg Naval School in 1876, then the Maritime Academy in 1880. After graduating from the hydrographic section in 1887, Golitsyn decided against serving in the Russian Fleet and instead enrolled at the University of Strasbourg, to study physics and mathematics.
He graduated in 1890, then returned to Russia as lecturer in mathematics at the University of Moscow. In 1893, Golitsyn presented his Master’s thesis, "Investigations in Mathematical Physics". The first part was a dissertation on dielectrics and the second part, which considered radiant energy, moved away from the accepted electrodynamic theories of <disagreed with theory of> Faraday* and <disagreed with theory of> Maxwell*.
This upset the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics and, as a result, Golitsyn left Moscow to become professor of physics at the University of Dorpat (now Tartu), Estonia, in late 1893. In the same year, he was made a fellow of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.
During the mid-1890s, his scientific research was mainly into molecular physics and a close examination of the problem of critical temperature. Then, from 1898, he began to study seismology and seismometry. In 1906, building on the work of the British seismologist, <built on work of> John Milne*, he invented the first effective electromagnetic <developed> seismograph* which he modified in 1911, producing an instrument virtually the same as that used today.
In principle, a seismograph is not much more than a weight, suspended in such a way that it remains at rest when the ground moves. In the simplest kind of seismograph the weight hangs on a spiral spring and, when the ground, as well as the housing, moves upward, the weight stays at rest, while the spring becomes slightly extended. Conversely, when the ground moves down, the spring becomes compacted. Motion is then recorded by a beam of light reflected from a mirror, which is caused to swivel by the relative motion of the weight and the earth.
Golitsyn's seismograph of 1906 contained the suspended weight, equipped with coils, oscillating in a field of permanent magnets. Under these conditions, an electric current was induced in the coils and passed through a galvanometer. The deflection of the weight was recorded on photosensitive paper, showing the precise measurement of seismic vibrations.
In 1908, Golitsyn was made a full member of the Academy of Sciences and, in 1910, he received his doctorate from the University of Manchester.
The following year, he was elected President of the International Seismological Association and, in 1913, he became Director of the Central Physical, later Geophysical, Observatory at St. Petersburg.
After successful organisation of the meteorological service throughout Russia, his book, 'Lectures on Seismometry', was published in 1912 and translated into German two years later. In 1916, he became a foreign member of the Royal Society in Great Britain.
Golitsyn put Russian seismometry at the forefront of the science in the first part of the 20th century.
His seismographs were the prototypes for future apparatus used in the study of earthquakes, mechanical vibrations and seismic prospecting for useful minerals.
Today, there are four common methods for prospecting for oil and gas, which are gravitational, magnetic, seismic and electrical. In seismics, Golitsyn’s galvanometric seismometer with magnetic damping that carries his name is the basis for today’s instruments.
ASSESSMENT: Golitsyn's valuable work laid the foundations of scientific Seismometry.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: His work relates to that of micropaleontologist <work related to> D'Orbigny*, and <work related to> Richter*
His ancestor, <ancestor was> Prince Boris Golitsyn* was Peter the Great’s Chamberlain
ONELINER: Boris Golitsyn, early seismologist
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Richter, Charles, Elementary Seismology, San Francisco, 1958.
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Boris-Borisovich-Knyaz-Golitsyn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Borisovich_Golitsyn
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