Orest Khvolson

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Orest Danilovich Khvolson (Орест Данилович Хвольсон in Russian) (November 22 (N.S. December 4), 1852, Petersburg - May 11, 1934, Leningrad) was a Russian physicist and honorary member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1920).

Orest Khvolson graduated from St.Petersburg University in 1873. He began teaching at his alma mater in 1876 and would become a professor in 1891. Orest Khvolson authored a number of works on electricity, magnetism, photometry, and actinometry. He proposed the designs of actinometer and pyrheliometer, which would be used by the Russian weather stations for a long time. After 1896, Khvolson was mainly engaged in compiling the five-volume Physics Course (Курс физики), which would improve immensely the teaching of physics throughout the country and remain a principal textbook in universities for years to come. It was even translated into German, French, and Spanish languages.

Orest Khvolson was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Khvolson crater on the Moon is named after him.