The Janssen Medal is an

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

award presented by the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

to those who have made advances in this area of science.Les Prix Thematiques en Sciences de l'Univers
, French Academy of Sciences website, accessed 23 January 2011 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 Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (; 12 March 1824 – 17 October 1887) was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects. He coine ...

for his work on the science of

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...

. 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". 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. This award is distinct from the

Prix Jules Janssen The Prix Jules Janssen is the highest award of the Société astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society. This annual prize is given to a professional French astronomer or to an astronomer of another nationality in recognition ...

(created in 1897), an annual award presented by the

French Astronomical Society French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

. Both awards are named for the French astronomer

Pierre Janssen Pierre Jules César Janssen (22 February 1824 – 23 December 1907), usually known as Jules Janssen, was a French astronomer who, along with English scientist Joseph Norman Lockyer, is credited with discovering the gaseous nature of the solar ...

(1824–1907) (better known as Jules Janssen). Janssen founded the Academy award, and was a member of the inaugural commission.

Laureates

*1887 –

Prizes of the French Academy
Ralph E. Wilson, General Notes, Popular Astronomy, Vol. 21, 1913, pp.383–385. 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. (posthumously) *1888 –

William Huggins Sir William Huggins (7 February 1824 – 12 May 1910) was an English astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astronomical spectroscopy together with his wife, Margaret. Biography William Huggins was born at Cornhill, Middlesex, in ...

*1889 –

Norman Lockyer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (17 May 1836 – 16 August 1920) was an English scientist and astronomer. Along with the French scientist Pierre Janssen, he is credited with discovering the gas helium. Lockyer also is remembered for being the f ...

*1890 –

Charles Augustus Young Charles Augustus Young (15 December 1834 – 4 January 1908) one of the foremost solar spectroscopist astronomers in the United States. He observed solar eclipses and worked on spectroscopy of the Sun. He observed a solar flare with a spectr ...

*1891 –

Georges Rayet Georges-Antoine-Pons Rayet (12 December 1839 – 14 June 1906) was a French astronomer. He was born in Bordeaux, France. He began working at the Paris Observatory in 1863. He worked on meteorology in addition to astronomy. He specialized ...

*1892 –

Pietro Tacchini Pietro Tacchini (March 21, 1838 – March 24, 1905) was an Italian astronomer. He was born and raised in Modena, Italy. He studied engineering at the University of Padova. At the age of 21, he was appointed the director of a small observator ...

*1893 –

Samuel Pierpont Langley Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22, 1834 – February 27, 1906) was an American aviation pioneer, astronomer and physicist who Invention, invented the bolometer. He was the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and a professor of a ...

*1894 –

George Ellery Hale George Ellery Hale (June 29, 1868 – February 21, 1938) was an American solar astronomer, best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots, and as the leader or key figure in the planning or construction of several world-lea ...

*1896 –

Henri Deslandres Henri Alexandre Deslandres (24 July 1853 – 15 January 1948) was a French astronomer, director of the Meudon and Paris Observatories, who carried out intensive studies on the behaviour of the atmosphere of the Sun. Biography Deslandres' un ...

*1898 –

Aristarkh Belopolsky Aristarkh Apollonovich Belopolsky (Аристарх Аполлонович Белопольский) (, Moscow – 16 May 1934, Pulkovo (Saint Petersburg), Pulkovo, Leningrad Oblast, Leningrad) was a Russian astronomer. He was born in Moscow ...

*1900 –

Edward Emerson Barnard Edward Emerson Barnard (December 16, 1857 – February 6, 1923) was an American astronomer. He was commonly known as E. E. Barnard, and was recognized as a gifted observational astronomer. He is best known for his discovery of the high proper mo ...

*1902 –

Aymar de la Baume Pluvinel Count Aymar Eugène de la Baume Pluvinel (6 November 1860 – 18 July 1938) was a French astronomer and professor in the '' Grandes écoles SupOptique'' ('' École supérieure d'optique''). He belonged to an old noble family, whose most famous de ...

*1904 –

Aleksey Pavlovitch Hansky Aleksey Pavlovitch Hansky (Алексей Павлович Ганский; 20 July 1870, Odessa – 11 August 1908, Simeiz) was a Russian astronomer. Biography Hansky graduated from the Gymnasium (school)#Countries with gymnasium schools, Gymnasi ...

*1905 –

Gaston Millochau Gaston Millochau (born 1866, date of death unknown) was a French astronomer. From 1899 until 1903 he observed Mars at the Meudon Observatory The Paris Observatory (french: Observatoire de Paris ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences ...

(silver-gilt award) *1906 –

Annibale Ricco Annibale is the Italian masculine given name and surname equivalent to Hannibal. In English, it may refer to : Given name * Annibale Albani (1682–1751), Italian cardinal * Annibale I Bentivoglio, (died 1445), ruler of Bologna from 1443 * Ann ...

*1908 –

Pierre Puiseux Pierre Henri Puiseux (; 20 July 1855 – 28 September 1928) was a French astronomer. Born in Paris, son of Victor Puiseux, he was educated at the École Normale Supérieure before starting work as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory in ...

*1910 –

William Wallace Campbell William Wallace Campbell (April 11, 1862 – June 14, 1938) was an American astronomer, and director of Lick Observatory from 1901 to 1930. He specialized in spectroscopy. He was the tenth president of the University of California from 1923 to 1 ...

*1912 –

Alfred Perot Jean-Baptiste Alfred Perot (; 3 November 1863 – 28 November 1925) was a French physicist. Together with his colleague Charles Fabry he developed the Fabry–Pérot interferometer in 1899. The French Academy of Sciences awarded him the Jan ...

*1914 –

René Jarry-Desloges René Jarry-Desloges (February 1, 1868 – June 1, 1951) was a French amateur astronomer who worked at his own observatory. He observed the planets, and claimed to have confirmed Giovanni Schiaparelli Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli ( , ...

*1916 –

Charles Fabry Maurice Paul Auguste Charles Fabry (; 11 June 1867 – 11 December 1945) was a French physicist. Life Fabry graduated from the École Polytechnique in Paris and received his doctorate from the University of Paris in 1892, for his work on i ...

*1918 –

Stanislas Chevalier Stanislav and variants may refer to: People * Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, C ...

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. *1920 –

William Coblentz William Weber Coblentz (November 20, 1873 – September 15, 1962) was an American physicist notable for his contributions to infrared radiometry and spectroscopy. Early life, education, and employment William Coblentz was born in North Lima, ...

*1922 –

Carl Størmer Fredrik Carl Mülertz Størmer (3 September 1874 – 13 August 1957) was a Norwegian mathematician and astrophysicist. In mathematics, he is known for his work in number theory, including the calculation of and Størmer's theorem on consecu ...

*1924 – George Willis Ritchey *1926 – Francisco Miranda da Costa Lobo *1928 – William Hammond Wright *1930 – Bernard Ferdinand Lyot *1932 – Alexandre Dauvillier *1934 –

Walter Sydney Adams Walter Sydney Adams (December 20, 1876 – May 11, 1956) was an American astronomer. Life and work Adams was born in Antioch, Turkey, to Lucien Harper Adams and Nancy Dorrance Francis Adams, missionary parents, and was brought to the U.S. i ...

*1936 –

Henry Norris Russell Henry Norris Russell ForMemRS HFRSE FRAS (October 25, 1877 – February 18, 1957) was an American astronomer who, along with Ejnar Hertzsprung, developed the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (1910). In 1923, working with Frederick Saunders, he deve ...

*1938 –

Bertil Lindblad Bertil Lindblad (Örebro, 26 November 1895 – Saltsjöbaden, outside Stockholm, 25 June 1965) was a Swedish astronomer. After finishing his secondary education at Örebro högre allmänna läroverk, Lindblad matriculated at Uppsala Univer ...

*1940 –

Harlow Shapley Harlow Shapley (November 2, 1885 – October 20, 1972) was an American scientist, head of the Harvard College Observatory (1921–1952), and political activist during the latter New Deal and Fair Deal. Shapley used Cepheid variable stars to estim ...

*1943 – Lucien Henri d'Azambuja *1944 – Jean Rösch *1946 –

Jan Hendrik Oort Jan Hendrik Oort ( or ; 28 April 1900 – 5 November 1992) was a Dutch astronomer who made significant contributions to the understanding of the Milky Way and who was a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy. His ''New York Times'' obituary ...

*1949 – Daniel Chalonge *1952 – André Couder *1955 –

Otto Struve Otto Struve (August 12, 1897 – April 6, 1963) was a Russian-American astronomer of Baltic German origins. In Russian, his name is sometimes given as Otto Lyudvigovich Struve (Отто Людвигович Струве); however, he spent most o ...

*1958 –

André Lallemand André Lallemand (; September 29, 1904 – March 24, 1978) was a French astronomer and director of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris. Lallemand made important contributions to the development of photomultipliers for astronomical use and the "e ...

*1961 –

Pol Swings Pol F. Swings (24 September 1906 – 28 October 1983) was a Belgian astrophysicist who was known for his studies of the composition and structure of stars and comets. He used spectroscopy to identify the elements in astronomical bodies, and, ...

*1964 – Jean-François Denisse *1967 –

Bengt Strömgren Bengt Georg Daniel Strömgren (21 January 1908 – 4 July 1987) was a Danish astronomer and astrophysicist. Life and career Bengt Strömgren was born in Gothenburg. His parents were Hedvig Strömgren (née Lidforss) and Elis Strömgren, wh ...

*1970 – Gérard Wlérick *1973 – Lucienne Devan (silver-gilt award) *1976 –

Paul Ledoux Paul Ledoux (8 August 1914 – 6 October 1988) was a Belgian astrophysicist best known for his work on stellar stability and variability. With Theodore Walraven, he co-authored a seminal work on stellar oscillations. In 1964 Ledoux was awar ...

*1979 – Jean Delhaye *1982 – Georges Michaud *1985 – Pierre Lacroute *1988 –

Lodewijk Woltjer Lodewijk Woltjer (26 April 1930 – 25 August 2019) was an astronomer, and the son of astronomer Jan Woltjer. He studied at the University of Leiden under Jan Oort earning a PhD in astronomy in 1957 with a thesis on the Crab Nebula. This was foll ...

. *1990 – Pierre Charvin *1992 – Henk C. Van de Hulst *1994 – Serge Koutchmy *1999 – Jean-Marie Mariotti *2003 – Gilbert Vedrenne *2007 – Bernard Fort *2011 – Francois MignardFrancois Mignard
, French Academy of Sciences website, accessed 03/05/2012 *2019 – Eric Hosy The list above is complete up to 2019.

References

External links

Les Prix Thematiques en Sciences de l'Univers
includes a description of the Janssen Medal (French Academy of Sciences) *{{in lang, fr}

(Paris Institute of Astrophysics) Astronomy prizes French science and technology awards Awards of the French Academy of Sciences 1886 establishments in France Awards established in 1886

Laureates

See also

References

External links