An international group of scientists including graduates of Novosibirsk State University has won a prize for conducting a scientific experiment to prove that it was Mikhail Lomonosov who first discovered Venus’s atmosphere.
Silver Archer USA awards are aimed at improving Russian-American relations, and for the second time since 2011 the ceremony was held in the USA. The main objective is to encourage projects widening international, cultural, economic and social bilateral relations and to inspire Russia’s further integration in the global communication network.
This year’s event named projects in five categories: Culture; Science and Education; Business, Technology, Innovations; Communications and Charity. The prize in the Science and Education category went to the international team of scientists who managed to recreate Mikhail Lomonosov’s experiments and prove his role in discovering Venus's atmosphere. The team included scientists from the USA, Russia and Canada. They were Alexander Kukarin (USA), Yuri Petrunin (the President of Telescope Engineering Company, Colorado, USA), Vladimir Shiltsev (a graduate of the Physics Department, NSU, the head of Accelerator Physics Center, Chicago, USA), Igor Nesterenko (another Physics Department graduate, Budker's Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk) and Randall Rosenfeld (Royal Astronomical Society of Canada).
The scientists decided to validate experimentally Mikhail Lomonosov’s claim to the discovery of Venus’s atmosphere. In 1761, while Venus was passing through the edge of the solar disk (Transit of Venus), Mikhail Lomonosov detected that the planet was encircled by a very thin shining ring. Through this observation and the analysis of refraction phenomena the scientist drew his conclusion about Venus’s atmosphere. Some American scientists disputed the possibility of this discovery claiming that Mikhail Lomonosov could not have seen the shining circle with the equipment available to him but rather imagined its appearance.
In order to recreate the experiment while observing the 2012 Transit of Venus, the group of scientists and astronomers used antiquarian telescopes similar to that used by Lomonosov. In Russia, NSU did not manage to find such a telescope as some of them were destroyed during the Second World War, others were removed from Russia, and those which are kept in the Kunstkamera Museum in St Petersburg were difficult to obtain. A copy of such an antiquarian telescope was purchased in England.
As a result of the experiment, five independent observers proved that Lomonosov’s telescope and his experimental techniques of 1761 were powerful enough to see the ring and discover the planet’s atmosphere.
Note: The Russian Silver Archer Awards for public relations were established in 1997. They honor authors and experts who make vital contributions to developing interpersonal and intergovernmental ties by using PR methods in their political, social, scientific, and business practices.
