Mikhelson, Vladimir Alexandrovich

His father, Alexander Mikhailovich Mikhelson (1825–1875), a college adviser, and a civil engineer in the Department of Agriculture and Rural Industry, died, leaving his wife, Maria Antoineta Fedorovna, with five minor children: Vladimir, Lev , Alexander , Maria, and Julia. Older children, Vladimir and Leo ^[1] in 1878 graduated from the private school of Creiman in Moscow.

Vladimir entered the Petersburg Institute of Railway Engineers . However, very soon he moved to Moscow University, where his brother Leo began to study at the law faculty. He graduated from the course at the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University in 1883 with a candidate ’s degree. Pupil A.G. Stoletova . He was left at Moscow University to prepare for a professorship. In 1886 he was enlisted as a private assistant professor . In 1887 he was sent abroad. After receiving a doctorate in physics in 1894, he was appointed professor at the Moscow Agricultural Institute in the department of physics and meteorology. In 1895-1897, Mikhelson organized the "Central Russian Agricultural and Meteorological Network", but in 1898, because of the failure to allocate the promised funds, it refused to conduct it. Since 1895, he edited "Observations of the Meteorological Observatory of the Moscow Agricultural Institute."

Michelson was the first to apply the methods of statistical physics to determine the energy distribution function in the emission spectrum of a black body . Generalized the Doppler effect in the case when light passes through a medium with a variable refractive index . He established the dependence of the propagation velocity of the combustion wave on the composition of the combustible gas mixture ( detonation and deflagration ). He laid the foundations of the theory of explosive combustion and developed the theory of combustion of a gas mixture in a Bunsen burner . Mikhelson is one of the founders of domestic actinometry. Created a series of actinometric devices (ice pyrheliometer , bimetallic actinometer , etc.). He also dealt with the application of meteorology in agriculture ^[2] .

• “The experience of a theoretical explanation of the distribution of energy in the spectrum of a solid” (St. Petersburg, Paris and London, 1887);
• “On the normal ignition rate of explosive gas mixtures” (M., 1890, dissertation);
• “On the variety of mechanical theories of physical phenomena” (St. Petersburg, 1891);
• “On the use of an ice calorimeter in actinometry” (St. Petersburg, 1894);
• “Physics before the court of the past and before the requests of the future” (M. and Warsaw, 1901);
• “Essays on Spectral Analysis” (Warsaw, 1901);
• "A review of the latest research on the thermodynamics of radiant energy" (St. Petersburg, 1902).

• Rusakov V.P. Vladimir Aleksandrovich Mikhelson: scientific and pedagogical activity // Studies in the history of physics and mechanics. 2004. - M .: Nauka, 2005 .-- S. 71-110. - ISBN 5-02-033451-0 .
• Hramov Yu. A. Mikhelson Vladimir Alexandrovich // Physicists: Biographical Reference / Ed. A.I. Akhiezer . - Ed. 2nd, rev. and add. - M .: Nauka , 1983 .-- S. 190 .-- 400 p. - 200,000 copies. (in per.)
• Mikhelson, Vladimir Alexandrovich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• V.A. Meteorological Observatory Michelson
• Discovery of quanta