Odette Bancilhon (22 September 1908 – 1998) 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, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

. She is best known for her work during the 1930s and 1940s at the

Algiers Observatory The Algiers Observatory was built in the late 19th century in the Algiers suburb of Bouzaréah, Algeria, North Africa. It participated in the Astrographic Catalogue project, taking the zone between -2 and +4 degrees to expose 1,260 plates between ...

, in Algeria, North Africa, where she discovered 1333 Cevenola, a stony Eunomian asteroid from the main-belt.

Life and work

Bancilhon was a graduate in science and she served as a

meteorological Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

assistant in Algiers for one year beginning 1 December 1932. On 7 December 1933, she was appointed as

Alfred Schmitt Alfred Schmitt (30 November 1907 – 2 April 1973) was a French astronomer. Schmitt worked at Algiers Observatory in the 1930s and 1940s and at the Royal Observatory in Uccle, Belgium in the 1950s. From 1955 to 1958 he was also director of the ...

's replacement while he performed his military service. In that capacity, in 1934, she discovered the asteroid (1333) Cevenola. (All of her publications at that time were signed ''O. Bancilhon'', a practice of her profession.) She was named an assistant on 1 November 1937. She married her colleague Alfred Schmitt in Algiers on 12 September 1942, and became known professionally as ''O. Schmitt-Bancilhon''. She and her husband were transferred to the Strasbourg Observatory in France on 1 January 1950, and she worked there as an assistant for several years. The couple then moved to the Quito Observatory in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

from 2 October 1956 to 10 April 1958. She was an assistant there while her husband served as observatory director. She retired on 1 July 1964. The main-belt asteroid 1713 Bancilhon (measuring 5.716 kilometers in diameter) was named in her honor. It was discovered on 27 September 1951 by Louis Boyer, her former colleague at the Algiers Observatory.

Selected publications

* Schmitt, A., and O. Schmitt-Bancilhon. "Positions of Comets obtained visually at the Equatorial Coudé of the Algiers Observatory." ''Observer Journal'' 31 (1948): 164.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bancilhon, Odette 20th-century French astronomers Discoverers of asteroids 1908 births 1998 deaths Women astronomers 20th-century French women scientists