Marcel Minnaert

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Marcel Minnaert in 1967

Marcel Gilles Jozef Minnaert (February 12, 1893 – October 26, 1970) was a Belgian astronomer.

He obtained a PhD in biology at Ghent University in 1914.

He was a supporter of the Flemish movement during World War I and endorsed the replacement of French by Dutch during the German occupation of Belgium. Because of this, he was forced to flee Belgium after the end of the war.

In 1918, he found a position at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, initially to do photometric research. In Utrecht, he became interested in astronomy, and he became a pioneer of solar research. He specialized in spectroscopy and the study of stellar atmospheres.

In 1937, he was appointed director of the stellar observatory Sonnenborgh in Utrecht and full professor in astronomy at the university. In 1940, he published his famous Utrecht Atlas of the solar spectrum. In 1941, he invented the Minnaert function, which is used in optical measurements of celestial bodies.

During the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II, he was imprisoned by the Germans because of his left-wing, anti-fascist sympathies. During his incarceration, he taught physics and astronomy to his fellow prisoners. After the War, he was one of the founders of the Mathematisch Centrum in Amsterdam.

One of his interests was the effects of the atmosphere on light and images. His classic book on this subject was released in English translation as:

The Nature of Light and Color in the Open Air, Dover, 1954, ISBN 0-486-20196-1

and in a new translation with color photographs as:

Light and Color in the Outdoors, Springer, 1993, ISBN 0-387-97935-2, and 3-540-97935-2, 0-387-94413-3 (originally published in Dutch in 1974 as De natuurkunde van 't vrije veld. Licht en kleur in het landschap.)