Mikhail Molodenskii

Who was Mikhail Molodenskii?

Mikhail Sergeevich Molodenskii was a famous Soviet physical geodesist. He was once said to be "probably the only geodesist who would have deserved a Nobel prize"

He graduated from Moscow State University, since 1946 he worked for the Institute of Earth Physics. He created an original theory for determining of the Earth shape and its gravitational field based on the surface measurement, built the first Soviet gravimeter, developed a theory of the nutation of Earth. He won the Stalin Prize and the Lenin Prize. His legacy includes the Molodensky transformations, which are commonly used to transform between geodetic datums.