Janssen Medal (French Academy of Sciences)

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.^[1]

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".^[2]

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.^[3]

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.

Laureates

• 1887 – Gustav Kirchhoff^[4] (posthumously)
• 1888 – William Huggins^[4][5]
• 1889 – Norman Lockyer^[4]
• 1890 – Charles Augustus Young^[4][6]
• 1891 – Georges Rayet^[4]
• 1892 – Pietro Tacchini^[4][7]
• 1893 – Samuel Pierpont Langley^[8]
• 1894 – George Ellery Hale^[4]
• 1896 – Henri Deslandres^[4]
• 1898 – Aristarkh Belopolsky^[4]
• 1900 – Edward Emerson Barnard^[4]
• 1902 – Aymar de la Baume Pluvinel^[4]
• 1904 – Aleksey Pavlovitch Hansky^[4]
• 1905 – Gaston Millochau^[4] (silver-gilt award)^[9]
• 1906 – Annibale Ricco^[4]
• 1908 – Pierre Puiseux^[4]
• 1910 – William Wallace Campbell^[4]
• 1912 – Alfred Perot^[4]
• 1914 – René Jarry-Desloges^[10]
• 1916 – Charles Fabry^[11]
• 1918 – Stanislas Chevalier^[12]
• 1920 – William Coblentz^[13]
• 1922 – Carl Størmer^[14]
• 1924 – George Willis Ritchey^[15]
• 1926 – Francisco Miranda da Costa Lobo^[12]
• 1928 – William Hammond Wright^[16]
• 1930 – Bernard Ferdinand Lyot^[12]
• 1932 – Alexandre Dauvillier^[12]
• 1934 – Walter Sydney Adams^[17]
• 1936 – Henry Norris Russell^[18]
• 1938 – Bertil Lindblad^[12]
• 1940 – Harlow Shapley^[12]
• 1943 – Lucien Henri d'Azambuja^[12]
• 1944 – Jean Rösch^[12]
• 1946 – Jan Hendrik Oort^[12]
• 1949 – Daniel Chalonge^[12]
• 1952 – André Couder^[12]
• 1955 – Otto Struve^[19]
• 1958 – André Lallemand^[12]
• 1961 – Pol Swings^[20]
• 1964 – Jean-François Denisse^[21]
• 1967 – Bengt Strömgren^[22]
• 1970 – Gérard Wlérick^[23]
• 1973 – Lucienne Devan^[24] (silver-gilt award)^[25]
• 1976 – Paul Ledoux^[26]
• 1979 – Jean Delhaye^[27]
• 1982 – Georges Michaud^[28]
• 1985 – Pierre Lacroute^[29]
• 1988 – Lodewijk Woltjer.^[30]
• 1990 – Pierre Charvin^[31]
• 1992 – Henk C. Van de Hulst^[32]
• 1994 – Serge Koutchmy^[33]
• 1999 – Jean-Marie Mariotti
• 2003 – Gilbert Vedrenne^[1]
• 2007 – Bernard Fort^[34]
• 2011 – Francois Mignard^[35]
• 2019 – Eric Hosy

The list above is complete up to 2019.

See also

• List of astronomy awards

References

1. (in French) Les Prix Thematiques en Sciences de l'Univers Archived 24 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine, French Academy of Sciences website, accessed 23 January 2011
2. (in French) Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences (1887), pp.1322–1323. The French phrase partially translated here is: "L'Académie voudra donner à la mémoire du grand savant d'Heidelberg ce suprême hommage, qui sera une première consécration de sa gloire et une consolation pour sa famille."
3. (in French) Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences (1889), pp.1095–1096
4. "General Notes". Popular Astronomy. 21: 377. 1913. Bibcode:1913PA.....21..377. This gives all the Janssen Medal awards between 1887 and 1912 that were known to US astronomer Ralph E. Wilson (1886–1960) the author of the note.
5. Becker, Barbara J. (3 January 2008). "Huggins, Sir William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34039. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
6. Poor, John M. (1908). "Charles Augustus Young". Popular Astronomy. 16: 218. Bibcode:1908PA.....16..218P. The Janssen Medal award is mentioned on page 229.
7. MacPherson, Hector Jr. (1905). "Pietro Tacchini". Popular Astronomy. 13: 306. Bibcode:1905PA.....13..306M. The Janssen Medal award is mentioned on page 308.
8. Award of the JANSSEN Prize to Dr. LANGLEY, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 6 (1894), No. 34, p.66
9. The 1905 statement in Comptes rendus relating to this award stated that the gold medal award would be made in 1906, but that an award of a silver medal would be made in 1905 to Gaston Millochau. See the 1905 volumes of Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences.
10. Fuentes, Patrick (2007). "Jarry‐Desloges, René". The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. pp. 589–590. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_714. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0.
11. General Notes, Popular Astronomy, Vol. 25, 1917, p.214-216. The Janssen Medal is mentioned on page 215, along with a note about two silver medals awarded to Fabry's colleagues at the Marseilles Observatory, Henri Buisson and Henry Bourget.
12. The citations for all these recipients are located in the corresponding issue of Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences for the year of the award.
13. General Notes, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 33, No. 192, pp.120–122 (1921). The reference to the Janssen Medal is on page 122.
14. Notes, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, December 1922 issue, pp.476–478
15. General Notes, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 36, No. 214, pp.360–363 (1924). The reference to the Janssen Medal is on page 362.
16. William Hammond Wright, 1871–1959, Paul W. Merril, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 71 (1959), No. 421, p.305
17. Walter S. Adams, 1876–1956, F. J. M. Stratton, The Observatory, Vol. 76, p. 139-140 (1956)
18. RUSSELL, Henry Norris, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, accessed 23 January 2011
19. General Notes, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 68, No. 400, pp.84–85 (1956)
20. (in French) Pol Swings – Curriculum Vitae Archived 9 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Fondation Francqui-Stichting website, accessed 24 January 2011
21. (in French) Jean-François Denisse Archived 7 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, French Academy of Sciences website, accessed 23 January 2011
22. Strömgren, Bengt Georg Daniel, Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography (2008), retrieved 26 January 2011 from Encyclopedia.com
23. (in French) Gérard Wlérick Archived 5 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine, French Academy of Sciences website, accessed 28 January 2011
24. Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences: Sciences mathématiques, Volume 277, page 128 (1973)
25. The Comptes rendus citation refers to the award as a "médaille en vermeil" – i.e. the award was not a full gold medal.
26. Paul Ledoux (1914–1988), A. Noels, The Messenger, vol. 54, p.10 (1988)
27. J. Delhaye received the Prix Jules-César Janssen, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Vie Acad., Tome 289, p. 95 (1979)
28. Observatory Reports: Université de Montréal, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 16, p.246 (1984)
29. [1], Copied pages listing Janssen Medal winners (in French)
30. (in French) Lodewijk Woltjer^{[permanent dead link‍]}, French Academy of Sciences website, accessed 23 January 2011
31. [2], Copied pages listing Janssen Medal winners (in French)
32. [3], Copied pages listing Janssen Medal winners (in French)
33. Serge Koutchmy received la médaille Janssen, C. R. Acad. Sci., Sér. Gén., Vie Sci., Tome 11, No. 5, p. 412 (1994)
34. (in French) Laureats des Prix de l'Academie des Sciences en 2007 Archived 24 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine, French Academy of Sciences website, accessed 23 January 2011
35. (in French) Francois Mignard Archived 25 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine, French Academy of Sciences website, accessed 03/05/2012

External links

• (in French) Les Prix Thematiques en Sciences de l'Univers, includes a description of the Janssen Medal (French Academy of Sciences)
• (in French) Article and photograph on the presentation of the 2007 award to Bernard Fort Archived 25 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine (Paris Institute of Astrophysics)