Pavel Shternberg


Pavel Karlovich Shternberg was a Russian astronomer and revolutionary. Shternberg contributed to the abolition of the Czarist government by Alexander Kerensky during the February Revolution of 1917. He was friends with two notable Communists, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky.
His significant astronomical contributions include discovery of the planetary perturbations, the measurement of the latitude of the Moscow Astronomical Observatory, and the application of photography to astronomy. The primary subject of his astrophotography was capturing double stars.
The Shternberg Astronomical Institute, and the lunar crater Shternberg, are named after him.