P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Bobojonov, Pulod

Tajik astrophysicist Pulod Bobojonovich Bobojonov was born in Uro-

teppa on October 15, 1930. He joined the CPSU in 1955.

Bobojonov graduated from the Leninabad Pedagogical Institute in

1949, and became a candidate at the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan

and Moscow State University (1950-1954). Thereafter, until 1958, he

served as the main astronomer at the Observatory. In 1958 and 1959, he

was the Head of the Institute of Meteorology and Astrophysics of the

Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. Between 1959 and 1971, he served

as the Director of that Institute. In 1970, he received his doctorate in

physics and mathematics. In 1971, he became the Dean of Tajikistan

State University, and he became a professor in 1973.

Bobojonov's studies examine the orbit, physical nature and division

of matter in inter-stellar space. He has determined the orbit of over 400

meteors and has discovered over 20 meteor cells. Between 1968 and

1970, Bobojonov was the leader of an expedition to Somalia; he became

the first in the world to measure the track changes of meteors. Under his

supervision, the Institute of Astrophysics of the Academy of Sciences

built an observatory for observing meteors, which became the founda-

tion for the study of the principle of observing and photographing and

locating meteors at the National level.

Bobojonov participated in many congresses and headed some. He

was awarded a number of medals. Bobojonov's contributions include

Issledovanie skorostei izverzhenia veshchestva iz yaderkomet (Research

on the Velocity of Matter of the Center of a Comet, Stalinabad, 1955);

---