René Racine (born 1939) is a French Canadian professor and astronomer who specializes in the study of

globular clusters A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars. Globular clusters are bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member ...

. He has also achieved international renown for his work with galaxies, astronomical instruments and adaptive optics.

Biography

Racine was born in Quebec City. He eventually obtained a bachelor's degree of Physics from

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxemb ...

in 1963. He obtained his master's and doctoral degrees (Ph.D in astronomy) in 1965 and in 1967, respectively, from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. He achieved a research scholarship at the Carnegie Institute. Between 1967 and 1969, he was Carnegie Fellow at the Mount Wilson and Palomar observatories near Pasadena, California. He then operated the Mt. Mégantic Observatory during the years of 1976–1980, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope during 1980–1984, before returning to Mt. Mégantic Observatory for the years of 1984–1997. In 1994, he with five others, recalibrated the value of the

Hubble constant Hubble's law, also known as the Hubble–Lemaître law, is the observation in physical cosmology that galaxies are moving away from Earth at speeds proportional to their distance. In other words, the farther they are, the faster they are moving ...

, which helps to measure extragalactic distances, and the size and the age of the Universe. On 10 February 2000,

Denis Bergeron This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 nu ...

, in Val-des-Bois, was the first to discover an

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. ...

from Quebec. The asteroid, 45580 Renéracine, was named in honor of Racine. Racine was a member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

, but on 1 June 2009, he Racine resigned from it to protest Henry Morgentaler's appointment to the Order. Racine remained in the

Ordre National du Québec The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as ''l'Ordre national du Québec'', and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is an order of merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Gov ...

Accolades

*Price Léon Lortie of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montreal in 1988. *Member of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

in 1989. *Member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1991. * Beals of the

Canadian Astronomical Society The Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA; french: link=yes, La Société Canadienne d'Astronomie) is a Canadian society of professional astronomers, founded in 1971 and incorporated in 1983. The society is devoted to the promotion and advanceme ...

in 1992. *Scientist Award of the year by the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

in 1994. *

in 1999, resigned the honour in 2009. *

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

(2002, 1977) Golden Jubilee Medal of Her Majesty.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Racine, Rene 20th-century Canadian astronomers People from Quebec City Living people Members of the Order of Canada 1939 births Université Laval alumni