Home page of Dr. N.N.Samus

samus@sai.msu.ru

Nikolai N. SAMUS was born on December 8, 1949 in Kiev. In 1973, he graduated from the Dept. of Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Moscow University (M.Sci.). PhD since 1977 (supervisor Prof. B.V. Kukarkin), D.Sci. since 1996; both dissertations were devoted to studies of globular star clusters. In 1976 - 1981, he was an assistant professor at the Chair of Galactic Astronomy and Astrometry, Moscow University. Joined Astronomical Council/INASAN in 1981. At present, he is a Leading researcher at the Department of Non-Stationary Stars and Stellar Spectroscopy, heading the group of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars, and a Leading researcher at the Department of Variable Stars and Galactic Astronomy of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute, heading the group of Variable Stars.

Catalogues of variable stars are being compiled in USSR/Russia since 1946 on behalf of the International Astronomical Union. Since then, four editions of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS) and several catalogues of suspected variable stars (the most recent one, 1981) have appeared. P.P. Parenago, B.V. Kukarkin, P.N. Kholopov leaded the team of variable star catalogue compilers at Astronomical Council/INASAN and at Sternberg Institute through years. After P.N. Kholopov's decease in 1988, Dr. Samus becomes the leader of this team in both institutes. In the five-volume 4th GCVS edition (1985 - 1995), Dr. Samus is the editor of Volumes IV and V. Volume V presents, for the first time, a catalogue of variable stars in external galaxies. INTERNET access to variable star catalogues exists through Sternberg Institute; a searchable access system to the GCVS has been arranged at Sternberg Institute.

As an observing astronomer, in the recent years Dr. Samus was mainly engaged in measuring Cepheid radial velocities using the correlational spectrometer designed by A.A. Tokovinin; three large catalogues were published as a result of these observations.

Since 2005, Dr. Samus is a Co-Chairman of the Euro-Asian Astronomical Society .

A winner of the Fyodor Bredikhin Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2007).

Hobbies: foreign languages, travelling, mushroom picking.