Otto Struve. Portrait of Otto Struve (1897-1963), Russian born American astronomer. He was a member of an astronomical dynasty. His father, uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather were renowned astronomers. His family, father included, died during the Russian revolution, and he fled to the USA. He worked at the Yerkes observatory from 1921, becoming the director in 1932. After a spell as head of Chicago University's astronomy department (1947-1950), he became director of the Leuschner observatory. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1944, the fourth member of his family to be honoured in this way, for his work on stellar spectroscopy.