KFU’s Meteorological Observatory celebrates 210th anniversary

It started work on 13 January 1812 under the guidance of Professor Franz Xaver Bronner (1758 – 1850), who arrived from Switzerland specifically for this purpose.

The Observatory has been functioning continuously since then and is third oldest in Russia.

The meteorological equipment, currently situated within the Main Building courtyard, is now a regional object of historical heritage. It was a workplace of Ivan Zapolsky (1773 – 1811), one of the original professors of Kazan University since its opening in 1804. Other prominent users of the Observatory were founder of non-Euclidean geometry Nikolai Lobachevsky, physicist Vsevolod Ulyanin, geophysicist Pyotr Smolyakov, climatologist Nikolai Kolobov, and others.

As Deputy Director of the Institute of Environmental Sciences Timur Aukhadeev said, the Observatory still serves science well, “We are in possession of a long chronicle of meteorological data – a real treasure. We can study climate across centuries. At the same time, the Observatory is a place for student internships and coursework. Naturally, we also share observations with local media and the community.“ This data includes air temperature, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, and other phenomena, like lightnings, clouds, fogs, etc.

This year, the University plans to install a brand new meteorological station near its suburban facility – Engelhardt Astronomical Observatory – to compare weather conditions in two mutually distant locations of the city.

The Meteorological Observatory has been a point of attraction for university students and high school students alike for many years.

Russia’s Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring stated in its letter of merit that “Kazan University Meteorological Observatory’s observation results are a part of the Federal Register of Environmental Data and are a heritage of the Russian Federation.”

Source text: Rufina Gimaletdinova

Photo: Meteorological Observatory

Translation: Yury Nurmeev