Avenarius, Mikhail

Avenarius, Mikhail [Авенаріус, Михаїл], b 19 September 1835 in Tsarskoe Selo near Saint Petersburg, d 16 September 1895 in Kyiv. Physics professor at Kyiv University in 1866–91 and director of its meteorological observatory, corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (from 1876) and the Berlin Physics Society. Avenarius was the founder of the Kyiv school of experimental physics. He was the author of over 30 works on molecular physics, electricity, and thermoelectricity. He proposed the Avenarius formula for determining the electromotive power of a battery and invented an original system for dividing the alternating currents used in P. Yablochkov’s electric candles, for which he was awarded the French Legion of Honor.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]