Rolan I. Kiladze (Georgian: როლან კილაძე; September 24, 1931 – February 22, 2010) was a Georgian astronomer, a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1982), and a Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Georgia (1988). A documentary Red Stars was made about Kiladze. The minor Planet 4737 was named “Kiladze” in his honor, and one of the dwarf planet Pluto's craters was named after him by the International Astronomical Union for his contributions to the study of Pluto's photometry, astrometry and dynamics in 2019.
Biography Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory. In 1962 he received a degree of a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Since 1988 he was a Corresponding Member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences. From 2001 to 2006 R. Kiladze was a director of the National Astrophysical Observatory of Georgia. R. Kiladze also was engaged in pedagogical activity at the I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (1962-2006), at the Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani Pedagogical University (1985-1990), and from 2007 to 2010 he was a professor at the Ilya State University. Since 1964 he was a member of the International Astronomy Society, and since 1982 - a member of the European Astronomical Council. For many years he was a Deputy Chairman of the Georgian Astronautics Committee and Vice President of the Georgian Astronomical Society.
Scientific achievements
Rolan Kiladze studied the movement and origin of the Solar System bodies. He developed a universal formula for determining the length of the day-night time for distant planets (1965). Rolan Kiladze determined the mass of the dwarf planet Pluto (1967). Rolan Kiladze calculated the thickness of the rings of the planet Saturn (1969), which was confirmed in 1995 by the observations of the Hubble Space Telescope. Rolan Kiladze detected the signs of existence of the atmosphere on the planet Mercury (1974). Rolan Kiladze discovered a supernova in the constellation Cygnus (1975). Roland Kiladze suggested that Pluto was still undergoing the process of formation and was still surrounded by particles. He predicted the existence of the Pluto's moon Charon a year before its discovery (1977). Rolan Kiladze developed a theory about the modern rotations of the planets which was confirmed in 2005 by the discovery of two more moons of Pluto (1986). Rolan Kiladze with colleagues from St. Petersburg worked out the theory of movement of geosynchronous satellites (2001). Rolan Kiladze discovered the phenomenon of regularity of the orbits of satellite debris (2004). On the basis of this discovery, the theoretical possibility of collecting of the "space debris" was created. Rolan Kiladze found the criterion for predicting an asteroid collision with Earth based on only two positional observations (2004). R. I. Kiladze is the author of the monograph “Modern Rotation of Planets, as a Result of Development of Small Particles” (1986), “Theory of Movement of Geostationary Satellites” (2008) and the textbook for students “Theoretical Astrophysics.” He is the author of three catalogues for geostationary satellites and more than 150 scientific articles.
Awards 1970 – Medal for Labour Valour; 1971 - State Prize of The USSR; 1986 - Medal of Veteran of Labour; 1986 - Medal of “25-th universary of human’s flying into the cosmos”; 1987 - Medal of “30-th universary cosmic era”; 1987 - Medal of Acad. Koroliov; 1988 - Medal of Acad. Chelomei; 1991 – Medal of 30-th Anniversary of Gagarin's Flying in Space; 1991 - Medal of Tsiolkovsky; 1991 - Medal for achievements of the twentieth century; 2001 – Order of Honor.
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