Bernard Lyot

Bernard Lyot
Born (1897-02-27)February 27, 1897
Paris, France
Died April 2, 1952(1952-04-02) (aged 55)
Cairo, Egypt
Citizenship France
Nationality French
Fields Astronomy
Alma mater University of Paris
Known for Solar astronomy
Notable awards Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society

Bernard Ferdinand Lyot (27 February 1897, in Paris 2 April 1952, in Cairo) was a French astronomer.

Biography

His interest in astronomy started in 1914. He soon acquired a 4-inch (100 mm) telescope and soon upgraded to a 6-inch (150 mm). From graduation in 1918 until 1929, he worked as a demonstrator at the École Polytechnique and studied engineering, physics, and chemistry at the University of Paris.

From 1920 until his death he worked for the Meudon Observatory, where in 1930 he earned the title of Joint Astronomer of the Observatory. After gaining the title, he earned a reputation of being an expert of polarized and monochromatic light. Throughout the 1930s, he labored to perfect the coronagraph, which he invented to observe the corona without having to wait for a solar eclipse. In 1938, he showed a movie of the corona in action to the International Astronomical Union. In 1939, he was elected to the French Academy of Sciences. He became Chief Astronomer at the Meudon Observatory in 1943 and received the Bruce Medal in 1947.

He suffered a heart attack while returning from an eclipse expedition in Sudan and died on 2 April 1952, at the age of 55.

Observations and Achievements on Pic du Midi

Inventions

Telescope Bernard Lyot

Awards and honors

Awards

Named for him

References

  1. "The Bruce Medalists". Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  2. "Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society". Royal Astronomical Society. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  3. "The Bruce Medalists". Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  4. "Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  5. "Henry Draper Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
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