Matvey Gusev

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Matveyevich and the family name is Gusev.

Matvey Gusev
Матвей Гусев
Born	(1826-11-28)28 November 1826 Vyatka, Russian Empire
Died	22 April 1866(1866-04-22) (aged 39) Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
Known for	Non-sphericity of the Moon Astrophotography
Scientific career
Fields	astronomy
Institutions	Pulkovo Observatory Vilnius Observatory

Matvey Matveyevich Gusev (Russian: Матвей Матвеевич Гусев; 28 November [O.S. 16 November] 1826 – 22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1866) was a Russian astronomer who worked at Pulkovo Observatory near St. Petersburg from 1850 to 1852 and then at Vilnius Observatory.

In 1860 he founded the first scientific journal dedicated to math and physics in Russia: Vestnik matematicheskikh nauk (Вестник математических наук). He became the director of the Vilnius Observatory in 1865.

He was first to prove the non-sphericity of the Moon, concluding in 1860 that it is elongated in the direction of the Earth. He is considered one of the pioneers in using photography in astronomy, having taken pictures of the Moon and the Sun - including sunspots - while at the Vilnius observatory.

He died in Berlin, Germany in 1866. A major crater on Mars is named Gusev crater after him, and it is famed as the landing site of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit.