Boris Vasilyevich Numerov (Russian: Борис Васильевич Нумеров; January 29, 1891—September 13, 1941) was a Russian astronomer, land-surveyor and geophysicist. Born in Lyuban, he created various astronomic and mineralogical instruments, as well as for various algorithms and methods that bear his name. He was a member of the Academy of Sciences, observer at Pulkovo from 1913-1915, astronomer at the observatory of the University of Leningrad from 1915 to 1925, and director of the Central Observatory of Geophysics (1926-7), and Professor at the University of Leningrad (1924-1937).[1]
In 1938, Numerov visited Wallace Eckert’s lab to learn how punched card equipment might be applied to "stellar research" in his own lab at St. Petersburg University.[2]
In 1941, he was arrested and executed. He had been accused of being a spy in the pay of Germany. The basis of this accusation rested on the fact that German astronomers had named an asteroid after him.[1] In 1957, his memory was rehabilitated.[3]
The crater Numerov on the Moon is named after him. Asteroid 1206 Numerowia is also named after him.