Antonín Bečvář (; 10 June 1901 – 10 January 1965) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

who was active in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. He was born (and died) in Stará Boleslav. Among his chief achievements is the foundation of the Skalnaté Pleso Observatory and the discovery of the comet C/1947 F2 (Bečvář) (also known by the designations 1947 III and 1947c). His lifelong illness led him to the

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains ( Slovak: Vysoké Tatry; pl, Tatry Wysokie; rue, Высокі Татри,'' Vysoki Tatry''; hu, Magas-Tátra; german: Hohe Tatra; french: Hautes Tatras), are a mountain range along the border of norther ...

where he founded the observatory. Bečvář is particularly important for his star charts: he led the compilation of the ''Atlas Coeli Skalnate Pleso'' (1951), published by

Sky Publishing Corporation ''Sky & Telescope'' (''S&T'') is a monthly American magazine covering all aspects of amateur astronomy, including the following: *current events in astronomy and space exploration; *events in the amateur astronomy community; *reviews of astronom ...

as the ''

Skalnate Pleso Atlas of the Heavens The ''Skalnaté Pleso Atlas of the Heavens'' (''Atlas Coeli Skalnaté Pleso 1950.0'') is a set of 16 celestial charts covering the entire sky. It is named after the Skalnaté Pleso Observatory in Slovakia where it was produced. The first versi ...

'', which was the state-of-the-art atlas of its kind until

Wil Tirion Wil Tirion (born February 19, 1943) is a Dutch uranographer (celestial cartographer). His most famous work, ''Sky Atlas 2000.0'', is renowned by astronomers for its accuracy and beauty. The second edition of his most complete work, ''Uranometria ...

's "Sky Atlas 2000.0" in 1981. A dozen

star name In astronomy, stars have a variety of different stellar designations and names, including catalogue designations, current and historical proper names, and foreign language names. Only a tiny minority of known stars have proper names; all others ha ...

s in the atlas are of unknown origin, no connection to any language or previous source has been discovered despite an extensive search. He also compiled ''Atlas eclipticalis, 1950.0'' (1958), ''Atlas borealis 1950.0'' (1962), and ''Atlas australis 1950.0'' (1964). The

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

4567 Bečvář and the crater Bečvář on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

were named in his honour. American

Avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

composer

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

used Bečvář's star charts as the basis of several works: ''Atlas Eclipticalis'' (1961–62), ''

Etudes Australes ''Etudes Australes'' is a set of etudes for piano solo by John Cage, composed in 1974–75 for Grete Sultan. It comprises 32 Indeterminacy (music), indeterminate pieces written using star charts as source material. The etudes, conceived as duets f ...

'' (1974–75), ''

Etudes Boreales ''Etudes Boreales'' is a set of etudes for cello and/or piano composed by John Cage in 1978. The set is a small counterpart to Cage's other etude collections - '' Etudes Australes'' for piano and '' Freeman Etudes'' for violin. ''Etudes Boreales'' ...

'' (1978) and ''

Freeman Etudes ''Freeman Etudes'' are a set of etudes for solo violin composed by John Cage. Like the earlier ''Etudes Australes'' for piano, these works are incredibly complex, nearly impossible to perform, and represented for Cage the "practicality of the impo ...

'' (1977–80, 1989–90).

References

External links

Becvar's sky atlases

Uses imagery from Becvar's Atlas of the Heavens. {{DEFAULTSORT:Becvar, Antonin 1901 births 1965 deaths People from Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav Czech astronomers Slovak astronomers 20th-century astronomers Czechoslovak astronomers Austro-Hungarian astronomers