Jean Meeus is a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 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...

 specializing in celestial mechanics

Celestial mechanics

Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of celestial objects. The field applies principles of physics, historically classical mechanics, to astronomical objects such as stars and planets to produce ephemeris data. Orbital mechanics is a subfield which focuses on...

. The asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 2213 Meeus

2213 Meeus

2213 Meeus is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 24, 1935 by E. Delporte at Uccle.- External links :*...

 is named after him.

Jean Meeus studied mathematics at the University of Leuven in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, where he received the Degree of Licentiate

Licentiate

Licentiate is the title of a person who holds an academic degree called a licence. The term may derive from the Latin licentia docendi, meaning permission to teach. The term may also derive from the Latin licentia ad practicandum, which signified someone who held a certificate of competence to...

 in 1953. From then until his retirement in 1993, he was a meteorologist at Brussels Airport

Brussels Airport

Brussels Airport is an international airport northeast of Brussels, Belgium. The airport is partially in Zaventem and partially in the Diegem area of Machelen, both located in the Flemish Region of Belgium.Brussels Airport currently consists of 54 contact gates, and a total of 109 gates...

.

His area of interest is spherical and mathematical astronomy.

In 1986 he won the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Astronomical Society of the Pacific

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific is a scientific and educational organization, founded in San Francisco on February 7, 1889. Its name derives from its origins on the Pacific Coast, but today it has members all over the country and the world...

.

Publications

• co-author of Canon of Solar Eclipses (1966)
• Astronomical Formulae for Calculators (1979), 1st ed, ISBN 0-943396-22-0
  • Astronomical Formulae for Calculators (1988), 4th ed Enlarged and revised, Willmann-Bell Inc, ISBN 0-943396-22-0
  • Astronomical formulas for microcalculators (1988) (Russian Edition, Moscow,"Mir", 1988)
• co-author of Canon of Lunar Eclipses (1979)
• co-author of Canon of Solar Eclipses (1983)
• Elements of Solar Eclipses 1951-2200 (1989) ISBN 0-943396-21-2
• Transits (1989)
• Astronomical Algorithms (1991), 1st ed, ISBN 0-943396-35-2
• Astronomical Algorithms (1998), 2nd ed, ISBN 0-943396-61-1
• Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon and Planets (1983) ISBN 0-943396-02-6
• Mathematical Astronomy Morsels (1997) ISBN 0-943396-51-4
• More Mathematical Astronomy Morsels (2002) ISBN 0-943396-74-3
• Mathematical Astronomy Morsels III (2004) ISBN 0-943396-81-6
• co-author of Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000 (2006), NASA Technical paper 2006-214141 2006 http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEpubs/5MCSE.html
• Mathematical Astronomy Morsels IV (2007) ISBN 987-0-943396-87-63
• Mathematical Astronomy Morsels V (2009) ISBN 978-0-943396-92-7