Karl de Struve
| Karl von Struve | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Karl Von Struve 26 November 1835 Russia |
| Died | 26 June 1907 (aged 71) |
| Occupation | Diplomat, nobleman |
Karl von Struve (26 November 1835 – 26 June 1907) (Russian: Кирилл Васильевич Струве) (Alternate spelling in U.S.: de Struve) was a Russian nobleman and politician. He served, in turn, as Russian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan, the United States, and the Netherlands.
Struve was born in Tartu in 1835, the son of Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve (1793–1864) and his second wife, Johanna H.F. Bartels. His father was a native of Altona, Germany, who emigrated in 1808 to avoid conscription in the Napoleonic armies, going first to Denmark and then Russia. The elder Struve was appointed professor of astronomy and mathematics at the University of Dorpat (now Tartu) in 1813 and director of the Dorpat Observatory in 1817. In 1835, the year of Karl's birth, he was asked by Tsar Nicholas I to supervise construction of the Pulkovo Observatory, of which he was director from 1839 to 1862.
Karl von Struve was a half-brother of the astronomer Otto Wilhelm von Struve (1819–1905) and the politician Bernhard Vasilyevitch Struve, Imperial Privy Councilor and Governor of Perm and Astrakhan. He was a grand-uncle of Otto Struve (1897–1963), the Russian-born director of the Yerkes, McDonald and Leuschner observatories in the United States.
He married Maria Nicolaevna Annenkova, daughter of General Nicholas Annenkov and sister of General Michael Nicolaivitch Annenkoff, Elizabeth, princess Galitzine, and Alexandra, Vicomtesse de Vogüé. The Struves were the parents of five children:
Struve's first posting as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary was to Tokyo, capital of the Japanese Empire, which under the Emperor Meiji was undergoing a rapid Westernization of its government, industry and military.
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