Édouard Benjamin Baillaud (14 February 1848 – 8 July 1934) was a French

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, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

Biography

Born in

Chalon-sur-Saône Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the largest city in the department; how ...

, Baillaud studied at the

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, S ...

(1866-1869) and the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. He worked as an assistant at the

Paris Observatory The Paris Observatory (french: Observatoire de Paris ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centers in the world. Its histo ...

beginning in 1872. Later he was director of the

Toulouse Observatory The Toulouse Observatory (french: Observatoire de Toulouse) is located in Toulouse, France and was established in 1733. It was founded by ''l'Académie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Toulouse'' ("Academy of Science, Inscriptions ...

from 1878 to 1907, during much of this time serving as Dean of the

University of Toulouse The University of Toulouse (french: Université de Toulouse) was a university in the French city of Toulouse that was established by papal bull in 1229, making it one of the earliest universities to emerge in Europe. Suppressed during the Frenc ...

Faculty of Science. He greatly expanded the observatory and enthusiastically supported the ''

Carte du Ciel The Carte du Ciel (literally, 'Map of the Sky') and the Astrographic Catalogue (or Astrographic Chart) were two distinct but connected components of a massive international astronomical project, initiated in the late 19th century, to catalogue an ...

'' project. He specialized in

celestial mechanics Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, ...

, in particular the motions of the

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

s of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

. In 1903, the observatory took over a facility on the Pic du Midi in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

that had been founded by amateurs in the 1850s with the goal of putting a

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to obse ...

there. However, the height of 2865 metres (9400 feet) posed formidable logistical challenges and the ambition had remained unrealised though a meteorological observatory had operated from 1873 to 1880. Baillaud organised a team of soldiers to erect a 0.5 metre (20 inch)

reflecting telescope A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...

, and 0.25 metre

refracting telescope A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope design was originally used in spyglasses an ...

on the summit. In 1907, he became director of the

where he immediately set to work to relaunch the stalled ''Carte du Ciel'' project with a conference held at the observatory, entertained by singers from the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

and refreshed by

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

provided by the director of the Bordeaux Observatory. Though the French government agreed to fund the project, it was becoming increasingly clear that its objectives were hopelessly unrealistic. Baillaud was the President of the Société astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society, from 1909 to 1911.de la Société astronomique de France'', 1911, vol. 25, pp. 581-586
/ref> Baillaud was active in time standardisation, becoming the founding president of the

International Time Bureau The International Time Bureau (french: Bureau International de l'Heure, abbreviated BIH), seated at the Paris Observatory, was the international bureau responsible for combining different measurements of Universal Time. The bureau also played an i ...

and initiating the transmission of a

time signal A time signal is a visible, audible, mechanical, or electronic signal used as a reference to determine the time of day. Church bells or voices announcing hours of prayer gave way to automatically operated chimes on public clocks; however, a ...

from the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed ...

. Baillaud maintained the observatory and the time signal throughout

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, even though the German

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

'' Big Bertha'' was targeted on the nominal co-ordinates of Paris, the location of the observatory! Baillaud's concern for the astronomical time standard led him to be an outspoken opponent of

daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...

. Baillaud became founding president of the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

in 1919 and served in this position until 1922. He retired as director of the Paris Observatory in 1926. He was a regular academician in the astronomy section of the ''Académie des Sciences''. He won the

Bruce Medal The Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal is awarded every year by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy. It is named after Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American patroness of astronomy, and was fi ...

in 1923. The crater Baillaud 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 ...

is named after him, and so are

asteroids 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. ...

11764 Benbaillaud and 1280 Baillauda.

Bibliography

* Distribution des prix du lycée de Saint-Quentin. Discours prononcé par M. B. Baillaud,... impr. de J. Vidallet, (1871) - 16 pages * Thèses présentées à la Faculté des sciences de Paris pour obtenir le grade de docteur ès sciences mathématiques, par M. B. Baillaud,... Exposition de la méthode de M. Gylden pour le développement des perturbations des

cometes In Greek mythology, Cometes ( Ancient Greek: Κομήτης) may refer to the following figures: * Cometes, son of Thestius and brother of Prothous and Althaea. *Cometes, the Peirasian father of Asterius, one of the Argonauts. His wife could be ...

... Éd. Gauthier-Villars, (1876) - 47 pages * Theses de mathematiques, L. et J.-M. Douladoure (1876) - 108 Pages * Sur la méthode de Hansen pour la détermination des perturbations absolues des petites planètes. 4 pages (1878) * Sur une transformation trigonométrique employée par Hansen dans la théorie des perturbations, 7 pages (1878) * Détermination des éléments des orbites des cinq satellites intérieurs de Saturne. Éd. Gauthier-Villars (1886) * Sur le calcul numérique des intégrales définies. Éd.Gauthier-Villar (1886) * Recherches complémentaires sur le développement de la fonction pertubatrice. (1888) * Cours d'astronomie à l'usage des étudiants des facultés des sciences, Éd. Gauthier-Villars 1ère partie (1893), 2ème partie (1896) * Discours: prononcé à la séance générale du Congrès, le 8.4.1899, Imprimerie nationale (1899) - 22 pages * Congrès des sociétés savantes à Toulouse, Imprimerie nationale (1899) - 64 pages * Mémoire sur les quadratures mécaniques de rangs quelconques. Éd. Gauthier-Villars, 38 pages (1899) * Étude du climat de Toulouse de 1863 à 1900. (1902) - 444 pages * Comparaison des catalogues méridiens de

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...

et de

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

; Congres de Montauban (1902) * Climat de Toulouse. Extrait des 'Comptes rendus de l'Association française pour l'avancement des sciences', congrès de Montauban, 1902. Hôtel des sociétés savantes (1902) * Application du

photometer A photometer is an instrument that measures the strength of electromagnetic radiation in the range from ultraviolet to infrared and including the visible spectrum. Most photometers convert light into an electric current using a photoresistor, ...

à coin à la détermination des grandeurs photographiques des pléiades. Extrait des 'Comptes rendus de l'Association française pour l'avancement des sciences'. Congrès de Montauban, 1902 * Cartes autographiées, Université de Toulouse. Observatoire, F. Rossard, L. Montangerand, Benjamin Baillaud, Douladoure-Privat, (1904) - 3 pages. secrétariat de l'Association (1903) * Correspondence d'Hermite et de Stieltjes, Éd. Gauthier-Villars, (1905) - Mathematiques * 8 Novembre 1882 - 22 Juillet 1889, collaboration, Éd. Gauthier-Villars, (1905) - 477 pages * 18 Octobre 1889 - 15 Décembre 1894, collaboration, Éd. Gauthier-Villars, (1905) - 464 pages * Notice sur les travaux scientifiques de M. B. Baillaud, E. Privat, 1907 * Annales de l'Observatoire de Paris, collaboration, Éd. Gauthier-Villars, (1908) * Revue scientifique (Revue rose) (1910), 617 pages * L'Astronomie, par B. Baillaud. Larousse (1915) - 41 pages * Un demi-siècle de civilisation française (1870–1915), Éd.

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachett ...

et cie, (1916) - Voyage - 472 pages * Rapport relatif aux signaux horaires émis de L'Observatoire de Paris. Imprimerie Gauthier-Villars - 132 pages (1918) * De la méthode dans les sciences, Baillaud, Borel... Librairie

Félix Alcan Felix Mardochée Alcan (March 18, 1841 – February 18, 1925) was a French Jewish publisher and scholar, born in Metz. He was the grandson of Gerson Lévy, author of ''Orgue et Pioutim'', and son of Moyse Alcan, a well-known publisher at Metz. H ...

(1919) * Rapport adressé au conseil dans sa séance du 3 mars 1921 sur la nécessité de la création d'une succursale de l'Observatoire en dehors de la ville. Impr. Nationale, 28 pages(1920) * Inauguration du monument de l'amiral Mouchez, membre de l'Académie des sciences, au Havre, le dimanche 17 juillet 1921. Gauthier-Villars (1921) - 8 pages * Henri Andoyer, 1862–1929. Journal des observateurs, (1929) - 6 pages * Histoire de l' astronomie de position (1933) * Application de la méthode de MM. P. et Pr. Henry à la réduction des clichés photographiques du catalogue international à l'Observatoire de Toulouse, Impr. de Douladoure-Privat, 21 pages Bibliography on Googlebooks https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Benjamin+Baillaud%22

References

Obituaries

AN 253 (1934) 15/16
(one sentence, in German)

(one paragraph)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baillaud, Benjamin 1848 births 1934 deaths Members of the French Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Bruce Medal Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences École Normale Supérieure alumni University of Paris alumni University of Toulouse faculty People from Chalon-sur-Saône 19th-century French astronomers 20th-century French astronomers Presidents of the International Astronomical Union Presidents of the Société Française de Physique