Michel Rykatchew

1908 Journal of Geophysical Research  
General Rykatchew was born Dec. 25, •84o, [Jan. 6, •84•, at Nikolaevskoe (property of his mother) in the province of Jaroslave. • Here he passed his childhood in the midst of a large family, his parents instructing their children in science and languages. He studied for the Navy from •855 to •859; in •857 and 1858-62 he was con'nected with the Navy first as midshipman and then as ensign. He took the academic course in the Navy, 1862 to •864, and was sent abroad in •865 principally to study the
more » ... uestion of weather forecasting. Almost a year was spent at the Greenwich Observatory; under the instruction of Airy and Glaischer, Rykatchew was made familiar with the meteorological and magnetic observations made at Greenwich, Kew, Liverpool and other observatories and also with the weather forecasting by Babington of the l•leteorological Department of the Board of Trade which was being organized after the tragic death of Admiral Fitz-Roy. He next visited the principal observatories of Europe and made comparisons between their barometers and normal thermometers and those of Greenwich. Returning to Russia Rykatchew was invited by K•imtz, Director of "l'Observatoire Physique Central" to be his assistant and to this end, without leaving the Marine service, he was detailed to the Observatory in •867. After the death of K•imtz, he temporarily directed the meteorological observations at the Observatory and resumed the magnetic observations interrupted for many years. As soon as the new Director, Wild, entered upon his duties in I869, Rykatchew received the place, newly established, of assistant director, which he occupied until Wild's retirement in •895. When the division of the "i•I6t•oro!ogie i•iaritime" and of the service of forecasting of weather and of storms was established by the Observatory in •876, Rykatchew was appointed chief of the division. He was elected in •896 a member of the "Academic Imp6riale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg" and director of the Observatory, which since its fiftieth anniversary, celebrated in •899, has borne the name of "l'Observatoire Physique Central Nicolas". He has been a member,
doi:10.1029/te013i001p00022 fatcat:avmqzeu6zrds3m3a5tl4xrkuxy