Russian astronomer, an expert on the occultation of stars during a total lunar eclipse, and on stellar motion.
Struve was born in Pulkovo, near St Petersburg. The son of Otto Wilhelm von Struve, he followed the family tradition by studying astronomy at Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia). He began his research at Pulkovo Observatory, and visited observatories in many European countries. In 1894 he moved to the University of Kharkov, where he became professor 1897 and director of the observatory. From 1919 he was professor at Tauris University in Simferopol.
Struve was interested in precession and he investigated the whole question of motion within the Solar System. This led him to work on the positions and motions of stars, and to an estimation of the rate of rotation of the Galaxy.