Guillaume Bigourdan
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| 390 Alma 390 Alma 390 Alma is a typical medium-sized Eunomian asteroid. It was Guillaume Bigourdan's only asteroid discovery. He discovered it on March 24, 1894 in Paris.-References:###... |
March 24, 1894 |
Camille Guillaume Bigourdan (April 6, 1851 – February 28, 1932) was a French astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
.
Bigourdan was born at Sistels
Sistels
Sistels is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France.-References:*...
, Tarn-et-Garonne
Tarn-et-Garonne
Tarn-et-Garonne is a French department in the southwest of France. It is traversed by the Rivers Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its name.-History:...
. In 1877 he was appointed by Félix Tisserand
Félix Tisserand
François Félix Tisserand was a French astronomer.Tisserand was born at Nuits-Saint-Georges, Côte-d'Or. In 1863 he entered the École Normale Supérieure, and on leaving he went for a month as professor at the lycée at Metz. Urbain Le Verrier offered him a post in the Paris Observatory, which he...
as assistant astronomer at the Toulouse Observatory
Toulouse Observatory
The Observatoire de Toulouse is located in Toulouse, France and was established in 1733. It was founded by l'Académie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Toulouse . It was moved 1841 and again in 1981...
, and in 1879 followed Tisserand to the Paris Observatory
Paris Observatory
The Paris Observatory is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centres in the world...
when the latter became director there.
He spent many years verifying the positions of 6380 nebula
Nebula
A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas, helium gas and other ionized gases...
s. He hoped to set a basis for future studies of the proper motion
Proper motion
The proper motion of a star is its angular change in position over time as seen from the center of mass of the solar system. It is measured in seconds of arc per year, arcsec/yr, where 3600 arcseconds equal one degree. This contrasts with radial velocity, which is the time rate of change in...
of nebulas; this turned out to be more or less in vain, since distant nebulas will not show any proper motion. However, he did discover approximately 500 new objects.
In 1902 he participated in an effort to redetermine with greater precision the longitude difference between London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He became a member of the Bureau des Longitudes
Bureau des Longitudes
The Bureau des Longitudes is a French scientific institution, founded by decree of 25 June 1795 and charged with the improvement of nautical navigation, standardisation of time-keeping, geodesy and astronomical observation. During the 19th century, it was responsible for synchronizing clocks...
in 1903, and a member of the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
in 1904.
He described a method for adjusting equatorial mount
Equatorial mount
An equatorial mount is a mount for instruments that follows the rotation of the sky by having one rotational axis parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation. This type of mount is used for astronomical telescopes and cameras...
telescopes, which was known as "Bigourdan's method".
Bigourdan won the Lalande Prize
Lalande Prize
The Lalande Prize was an award for scientific advances in astronomy, given from 1802 through 1970 by the French Academy of Sciences.The prize was named for, and endowed by, astronomer Jérôme Lalande in 1801...
of the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
in 1883 and in 1891, and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
-History:In the early years, more than one medal was often awarded in a year, but by 1833 only one medal was being awarded per year. This caused a problem when Neptune was discovered in 1846, because many felt an award should jointly be made to John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier...
in 1919. He was director of the Bureau International de l'Heure from 1919 to 1928.
He married a daughter of Amédée Mouchez
Amédée Mouchez
Amédée Ernest Barthélemy Mouchez was a French naval officer who became director of the Paris Observatory and launched the ill-fated Carte du Ciel project in 1887.-Life:...
.
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Obituaries