Janssen Medal (French Academy of Sciences)
Encyclopedia
The Janssen Medal is an astrophysics
award presented by the French Academy of Sciences
to those who have made advances in this area of science.
The award was founded in 1886, though the first medal was not awarded until a year later. The commission formed to decide on the first recipient of the medal selected the German physicist Gustav Kirchhoff
for his work on the science of spectroscopy
. However, Kirchhoff died aged 63 on 17 October 1887, a few months before the award would have been announced. Rather than chose a new recipient for the award, the commission announced at the Academy's session of 26 December 1887 that the inaugural medal would be placed on his grave, in "supreme honour of the memory of this great scholar of Heidelberg".
The award had been intended to be biennial, but was awarded in 1888 and again in 1889. A statement in the 1889 volume of Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences clarified that the award would be presented annually for the first seven years, and then biennially from 1894 onwards.
This award is distinct from the Prix Jules Janssen
(created in 1897), an annual award presented by the French Astronomical Society. Both awards are named for the French astronomer Pierre Janssen (1824–1907) (better known as Jules Janssen). Janssen founded the Academy award, and was a member of the inaugural commission.
The list above is complete up to 1982. Others who have received the award include Lodewijk Woltjer
.
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
award presented by 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...
to those who have made advances in this area of science.
The award was founded in 1886, though the first medal was not awarded until a year later. The commission formed to decide on the first recipient of the medal selected the German physicist Gustav Kirchhoff
Gustav Kirchhoff
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects...
for his work on the science of spectroscopy
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...
. However, Kirchhoff died aged 63 on 17 October 1887, a few months before the award would have been announced. Rather than chose a new recipient for the award, the commission announced at the Academy's session of 26 December 1887 that the inaugural medal would be placed on his grave, in "supreme honour of the memory of this great scholar of Heidelberg".
The award had been intended to be biennial, but was awarded in 1888 and again in 1889. A statement in the 1889 volume of Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences clarified that the award would be presented annually for the first seven years, and then biennially from 1894 onwards.
This award is distinct from the Prix Jules Janssen
Prix Jules Janssen
The Prix Jules Janssen is the highest award of the French Astronomical Society. Created in 1897 and awarded annually, it is usually given in alternate years to a French astronomer, and to an astronomer of another nationality. It is distinct from the Janssen Medal , which is awarded by the French...
(created in 1897), an annual award presented by the French Astronomical Society. Both awards are named for the French astronomer Pierre Janssen (1824–1907) (better known as Jules Janssen). Janssen founded the Academy award, and was a member of the inaugural commission.
Laureates
- 1887 - Gustav KirchhoffGustav KirchhoffGustav Robert Kirchhoff was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects...
(posthumously) - 1888 - William HugginsWilliam HugginsSir William Huggins, OM, KCB, FRS was an English amateur astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astronomical spectroscopy.-Biography:...
- 1889 - Norman Lockyer
- 1890 - Charles Augustus YoungCharles Augustus YoungCharles Augustus Young was an American astronomer.He graduated from Dartmouth and later became a professor there in 1865, remaining until 1877 when he went to Princeton....
- 1891 - Georges RayetGeorges RayetGeorges-Antoine-Pons Rayet was a French astronomer.He was born in Bordeaux, France. He began working at the Paris Observatory in 1863. He worked on meteorology in addition to astronomy...
- 1892 - Pietro TacchiniPietro TacchiniPietro Tacchini was an Italian astronomer.He was born and raised in Modena, Italy. He studied engineering at the University of Padova. At the age of 21, he was appointed the director of a small observatory in Modena. By 1863 he became the Primo Astronomo Aggiunto, or director of the observatory,...
- 1893 - Samuel Pierpont LangleySamuel Pierpont LangleySamuel Pierpont Langley was an American astronomer, physicist, inventor of the bolometer and pioneer of aviation...
- 1894 - George Ellery HaleGeorge Ellery HaleGeorge Ellery Hale was an American solar astronomer.-Biography:Hale was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was educated at MIT, at the Observatory of Harvard College, , and at Berlin . As an undergraduate at MIT, he is known for inventing the spectroheliograph, with which he made his discovery of...
- 1896 - Henri Deslandres
- 1898 - Aristarkh Belopolsky
- 1900 - Edward Emerson Barnard
- 1902 - Aymar de la Baume Pluvinel
- 1904 - Aleksey Pavlovitch Hansky
- 1905 - Gaston MillochauGaston MillochauGaston Millochau was a French astronomer.From 1899 until 1903 he observed Mars at the Meudon Observatory and reported some details visible on its surface. In contrast to other observers at that time he did not see any canal-like features.A crater on Mars was named in his honor.-External links:*...
(silver-gilt award) - 1906 - Annibale RiccoAnnibale RiccoAnnibale Riccò was an Italian astronomer.He was born in Milan, Italy. In 1868 he was awarded a bachelors degree from the Università di Modena, then an engineering degree from the Politecnico di Milano...
- 1908 - Pierre PuiseuxPierre PuiseuxPierre Henri Puiseux was a French astronomer.Born in Paris, son of Victor Puiseux, he was educated at the Ecole Normale Supérieure before starting work as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory in 1885....
- 1910 - William Wallace CampbellWilliam Wallace CampbellWilliam Wallace Campbell was an American astronomer, and director of Lick Observatory from 1900 to 1930. He specialized in spectroscopy.-Biography:...
- 1912 - Alfred PerotAlfred PérotJean-Baptiste Alfred Perot was a French physicist.Together with his colleague Charles Fabry he developed the Fabry–Pérot interferometer.-Spelling:...
- 1914 - René Jarry-DeslogesRene Jarry-DeslogesRené Jarry-Desloges was a French amateur astronomer who worked at his own observatory.He observed the planets, and was able to confirm the rotational period of Mercury, which was first deduced by Giovanni Schiaparelli....
- 1916 - Charles FabryCharles FabryMaurice Paul Auguste Charles Fabry FMRS was a French physicist.-Life:Fabry graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and received his doctorate from the University of Paris in 1892, for his work on interference fringes, which established him as an authority in the field of optics and...
- 1918 - Stanislas Chevalier
- 1920 - William CoblentzWilliam CoblentzWilliam Weber Coblentz was an American physicist notable for his contributions to infrared radiometry and spectroscopy.-Early life, education, and employment:...
- 1922 - Carl StørmerCarl StørmerFredrik Carl Mülertz Størmer was a Norwegian mathematician and physicist, known both for his work in number theory and for studying the movement of charged particles in the magnetosphere and the formation of aurorae....
- 1924 - George Willis RitcheyGeorge Willis RitcheyGeorge Willis Ritchey was an American optician and telescope maker and astronomer born at Tuppers Plains, Ohio....
- 1926 - Francisco Miranda da Costa Lobo
- 1928 - William Hammond WrightWilliam Hammond WrightWilliam Hammond Wright was an American astronomer. He was director of the Lick Observatory from 1935 until 1942....
- 1930 - Bernard Ferdinand Lyot
- 1932 - Alexandre Dauvillier
- 1934 - Walter Sydney AdamsWalter Sydney AdamsWalter Sydney Adams was an American astronomer.-Life and work:He was born in Antioch, Syria to missionary parents, and was brought to the U.S. in 1885 He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1898, then continued his education in Germany...
- 1936 - Henry Norris RussellHenry Norris RussellHenry Norris Russell was an American astronomer who, along with Ejnar Hertzsprung, developed the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram . In 1923, working with Frederick Saunders, he developed Russell–Saunders coupling which is also known as LS coupling.-Biography:Russell was born in 1877 in Oyster Bay, New...
- 1938 - Bertil LindbladBertil LindbladBertil Lindblad Bertil Lindblad Bertil Lindblad (Örebro, 26 November 1895 – Saltsjöbaden (outside Stockholm, 25 June 1965) was a Swedish astronomer.After finishing his secondary education at Örebro högre allmänna läroverk, Lindblad matriculated at Uppsala University in 1914...
- 1940 - Harlow ShapleyHarlow ShapleyHarlow Shapley was an American astronomer.-Career:He was born on a farm in Nashville, Missouri, and dropped out of school with only the equivalent of a fifth-grade education...
- 1943 - Lucien Henri d'Azambuja
- 1944 - Jean Rösch
- 1946 - Jan Hendrik Oort
- 1949 - Daniel ChalongeDaniel ChalongeDaniel Chalonge was a French astronomer and astrophysicist. Born in Grenoble, Chalonge worked as an astronomer at the Observatoire de Paris, the Observatoire d'Haute Provence and the Swiss Jungfraujoch Scientific Station...
- 1952 - André CouderAndré CouderAndré Couder was a French optician and astronomer. From 1925, he worked in the optics laboratory of the Paris Observatory. Between 1952 and 1958 he was vice-president of the International Astronomical Union....
- 1955 - Otto StruveOtto StruveOtto Struve was a Russian astronomer. In Russian, his name is sometimes given as Otto Lyudvigovich Struve ; however, he spent most of his life and his entire scientific career in the United States...
- 1958 - André LallemandAndré LallemandAndré Lallemand was a French astronomer and director of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris.Lallemand made important contributions to the development of photomultipliers for astronomical use and the "electronic telescope" . He was awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in...
- 1961 - Pol SwingsPol SwingsPol F. Swings was a Belgian astrophysicist who was known for his studies of the composition and structure of stars and comets. He used spectroscopy to identify the elements in astronomical bodies, and, in particular, comets...
- 1964 - Jean-François Denisse
- 1967 - Bengt StrömgrenBengt StrömgrenBengt Georg Daniel Strömgren was a Danish astronomer and astrophysicist.Bengt Strömgren was born in Gothenburg. His parents were Hedvig Strömgren and Svante Elis Strömgren, who was professor of astronomy at the University of Copenhagen and director of the University Observatory in Copenhagen...
- 1970 - Gérard Wlérick
- 1973 - Lucienne Devan (silver-gilt award)
- 1976 - Paul LedouxPaul LedouxPaul Ledoux was a Belgian astronomer. In 1964 Paul Ledoux was awarded the Francqui Prize for Exact Sciences. He was awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1972 for investigations into problems of stellar stability and variable stars...
- 1979 - Jean Delhaye
- 1982 - Georges Michaud
- 1994 - Serge Koutchmy
- 2003 - Gilbert Vedrenne
- 2007 - Bernard Fort
The list above is complete up to 1982. Others who have received the award include Lodewijk Woltjer
Lodewijk Woltjer
Lodewijk Woltjer studied at the University of Leiden under Jan Oort earning a PhD in astronomy in 1957 with a thesis on the Crab Nebula. This was followed by post-doctoral research appointments to various American universities and the subsequent appointment of professor of theoretical astrophysics...
.