This book describes the main stages in the lives, scientific and social activities of famous astronomers making up the Knorre dynasty, who lived and worked from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century in Russia, Estonia, Ukraine, Germany and France.

Materials and documents presented in the book contain data from various archives, illustrated with colour and black-and-white photographs.

The book is intended for scientific workers and all those interested in the history of astronomy at the time of its beginnings and development in Eastern Europe, in particular in one of the oldest observatories in southern Ukraine in the city of Nikolaev.