---
title: "Struve family"
chunk: 1/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struve_family"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:05:44.011306+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The Struve family (pronounced [ˈʃtʁuvə] in German, [ˈstruvɪ] in Russian) were a Baltic German noble family of Eastphalian origin and originated in Magdeburg, the family produced five generations of astronomers from the 18th to 20th centuries. Members of the family were also prominent in chemistry, government and diplomacy.

== Origins ==

The first branch of the family that produced five generations of astronomers originated in Altona, then part of both Denmark and Germany  The first scientist member of the family was mathematician Jacob Struve (1755–1841); his forebears included Johann Struve (1700–1778) and Abel Struve (1719–1762). In 1783, Jacob Struve married Maria Emerentia Wiese (1764–1847). Their children were:

Carl Ludwig Struve (1785–1838)
Ernst Heinrich Struve (1786–1822)
Gustav Philipp Christoph Struve (1788–1829)
Christiane Regine Elisabeth Struve (1791–1853)
Friedrich Georg Wilhelm (von) Struve (1793–1864)
Ludwig August Struve (1795–1828)
Johanna Marie Struve (1797–1871)
In the beginning of the 19th century, Jacob Struve sent his sons to Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia) in the Russian Empire to avoid conscription in the Napoleonic armies. His fourth son, Friedrich Georg Wilhelm, taught at the University of Dorpat from 1813 and was full professor and director of Dorpat Observatory from 1820. Ennobled by Tsar Nicholas I, at whose request he supervised construction of Pulkovo Observatory, he served as director of the new observatory from 1839 to 1862.

Friedrich Georg Wilhelm married Emilie Wall (1796–1834) in 1815. They had 12 children, including the following:

Otto Wilhelm von Struve (1819–1905), astronomer
Heinrich Wilhelm von Struve (1822–1908), chemist
Bernhard Wilhelm von Struve (1827–1889), government official in Siberia and later governor of Perm and Astrakhan.
Following the death of his first wife, he married Johanna Henrietta Francisca Barthels (1807–1867). They had six children, including Karl von Struve (1835–1907), diplomat.
Jacob Struve's cousin, Anton Sebastian von Struve, was President of the German Eternal Imperial Diet at Regensburg and later a Russian Imperial Provy Councillor. He and his wife, née Johanne Dorothea Werner, were the parents of:

Catherina Elisabetha von Struve (1759–1838)
Johann Christoph Gustav von Struve (1763–1828)
Johann Georg von Struve (1766–1831)
Johann Christian von Struve (1768–1812)
August Wilhelm von Struve (1770–1838)
Heinrich Christoph Gottfried von Struve (1772–1851)
Albrecht von Struve (1774–1794)
Philippine Rosina Elisabetha von Struve (1775–1819)

== Otto Wilhelm von Struve line (3rd gen) ==

Otto Wilhelm von Struve (1819–1905) was director of Pulkovo Observatory from 1862 to 1889; he moved to Germany in 1889. He married 1) Emilie Dyrssen (1823–1868); 2) Emma Jankowsky (1839–1902). The children from his two marriages were:

August Eduard Alfred von Struve (1845–1916)
Emma Wilhelmine von Struve (1850-unknown)
Karl Hermann von Struve (1854–1920), astronomer; moved to Germany 1895
Therese Pauline von Klot (von Struve) (1857–1880), buried in Pulkovo Observatory along with parents.
Gustav Ludwig von Struve (1858–1920), astronomer
Emilie Nathalie Wilhelmine Struve (1874–1965)
Karl Hermann von Struve had a son, Georg Otto Hermann Struve (1886–1933), who was also an astronomer. Georg Otto Hermann had two sons, Wilfried Struve (1914–1992) and Rheinhard Struve (1919–1943).
Gustav Ludiwig von Struve (1858–1920) and his wife, Elizaveta, had a son Otto Struve (1897–1963), who became a prominent astronomer in the United States following fighting in World War I and for White Russians in the Russian Revolution. His other son, Warner was an officer for the White Russians but died from tuberculosis. His daughter, the youngest, drowned in the same period. Gustav had to leave Russia and went with his surviving son Otto Struve into exile in Turkey, where he died in 1920 at age 62.
Otto Struve (1897–1963) then got a job in the United States through his Uncle Hermann von Struve, who lived and worked at Berlin-Babelsberg Observatory. After moving to the United States, Otto Struve  married Mary Martha Lanning in 1925, but there were no children.

== Berngard Vasilyevich Struve line (3rd gen) ==

Berngard Vasilyevich Struve (1827–1889) was a government official in Siberia before serving in turn as governor of Perm and Astrakhan. He was the father of:

Vasily Berngardovich Struve (1854–1912)
Peter Berngardovich Struve (1870–1944), political economist, philosopher and editor
Alexander Berngardovich Struve, confidential secretary
Vasily Berngardovich Struve married Borisa Alexandrovna Turaeva (1868–1920). They were the parents of:

Vasily Vasilevich Struve (1889–1965), academic.
Peter Berngardovich Struve emigrated to France following the Russian Revolution. He was the father of:

Gleb Petrovich Struve (1898–1985), poet and literary historian
Aleksey Petrovich Struve
Konstantin Petrovich Struve (1903–1948)
Arkady Petrovich Struve (1905–1951)
Aleksey Petrovich Struve married Ekaterina Andreevna Katuar. Their children were:

Peter Struve (1925–1968)
Nikita Struve (1931–2016), professor and editor of several Russian-language periodicals in Europe.

== Karl von Struve line (3rd gen) ==
Karl von Struve (1835–1907) was Russian minister to Japan, the United States (1882–1892) and the Netherlands (1892–1904). In line with German practice, he was entitled to use the title of Baron von Struve while abroad, though this was denied him while resident in Germany or Russia. The American press generally rendered his title as Baron de Struve.
He and his wife, Maria Nikolaevna Annenkova (1844–1889) were the parents of:

Boris de Struve (d. 1912)
Vera de Struve (1876–1949)
Olga de Struve
Elena de Struve
Maroussia de Struve
Owing to ill health, his wife Maria returned to Russia in 1885, dying at Kielmarky, near St. Petersburg in 1889.

== Other lines ==