Jean Meeus (born 12 December 1928) is a Belgian

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

and amateur

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 ...

specializing 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, to ...

spherical astronomy Spherical astronomy, or positional astronomy, is a branch of observational astronomy used to locate astronomical objects on the celestial sphere, as seen at a particular date, time, and location on Earth. It relies on the mathematical methods o ...

, and mathematical astronomy. Meeus studied mathematics at the University of Leuven in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, where he received the Degree of Licentiate in 1953. From then until his retirement in 1993, he was a

at Brussels Airport.

Awards and honors

In 1986, he won the

Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific The Gordon Myers Amateur Achievement Award, known until 2018 as the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, is one of nine annual astronomical awards managed by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. It recognize ...

. The

main belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

asteroid 2213 Meeus was named after him by 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 1981 for his contributions to the field.

Publications

* ''Tables of Moon and Sun'' (Kessel-Lo: Kesselberg Sterrenwacht, 1962) * ''Syzygies Tables'' (Kessel-Lo: Kesselberg Sterrenwacht, 1963) * co-author (with Carl C. Grosjean & Willy Vanderleen) of ''Canon of Solar Eclipses'' (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1966) * co-author (with

Frederick Pilcher Frederick Pilcher (born 1939) is a retired physics professor and a prolific photometrist of minor planets at his private Organ Mesa Observatory in New Mexico, United States. Biography A graduate of University of Kansas, Frederick Pilcher has ...

) of ''Tables of Minor Planets'' (1973) * ''Astronomical Formulae for Calculators'' (1979) st ed.** ''Astronomical Formulæ for Calculators'' (1982), 2nd ed. Enlarged and revised, Willmann-Bell Inc, ** ''Astronomical Formulæ for Calculators'' (1985), 3rd ed. Enlarged and revised, Willmann-Bell Inc, ** ''Astronomical Formulæ for Calculators'' (1988), 4th ed. Enlarged and revised, Willmann-Bell Inc, ** ''Astronomical Formulas for Microcalculators'' (1988) (Russian Edition, Moscow, "Mir", 1988) * co-author (with Hermann Mucke) of ''Canon of Lunar Eclipses: -2000 to +2526'' (Astronomisches Büro, 1979) * co-author (with Hermann Mucke) of ''Canon of Solar Eclipses -2003 to +2526'' (Astronomisches Büro, 1983) * ''Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon and Planets'' (1983) **''Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon and Planets'' (1995), 2nd ed., **''Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon and Planets'' (2016), 3rd ed., * ''Elements of Solar Eclipses 1951-2200'' (1989) * ''Transits'' (1989) * ''Astronomical Algorithms'' (1991), 1st ed., ** ''Astronomical Algorithms'' (1998), 2nd ed., * ''Mathematical Astronomy Morsels'' (1997) * ''More Mathematical Astronomy Morsels'' (2002) * ''Mathematical Astronomy Morsels III'' (2004) * ''Mathematical Astronomy Morsels IV'' (2007) * ''Mathematical Astronomy Morsels V'' (2009) * co-author (with

Fred Espenak Fred Espenak is a retired emeritus American astrophysicist. He worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center. He is best known for his work on eclipse predictions. He became interested in astronomy when he was 7–8 years old, and had his first tel ...

) of ''Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000'' (October 2006), NASA Technical paper 2006-214141 2006 * co-author (with Fred Espenak) of ''Five Millennium Canon of Lunar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000'' (January 2009), NASA Technical paper 2009-214172 2009

References

External links

Naughter Software implementation of ''Astronomical Algorithms, second edition 1998''
in

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

Navigation Spreadsheets implementation of ''Astronomical Algorithms, second edition 1998''
in

Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for App ...

for celestial navigation purposes.
PyMeeus is a Python implementation of the astronomical algorithms described in the classical book “Astronomical Algorithms, 2nd Edition, Willmann-Bell Inc. (1998)” by Jean Meeus.
1928 births Living people Flemish scientists 20th-century Belgian astronomers Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni {{Europe-astronomer-stub