Álvaro López-García (1941-2019) was a Spanish astronomer, professor of astronomy at the
University of Valencia
The University of Valencia ( ), shortened to UV, is a public research university in Valencia, Spain. It is one of the oldest universities in Spain, and the oldest in the Valencian Community. It is regarded as one of Spain's leading academic i ...
and director of the
Valencia University Observatory during the years 1968-2000.
He was a specialist in
astrometry
Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other Astronomical object, celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, th ...
and the dynamics of
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
s, and had discovered numerous of these bodies since the early 1980s, in collaboration with astronomer
Henri Debehogne.
Awards and honors
The
main-belt asteroid
4657 Lopez, discovered by
Nikolai Chernykh
Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Черны́х, , nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnɨx, links=yes; 6 October 1931 – 25 May 2004Казакова, Р.К. Памяти Николая Сте ...
in 1979, was named in his honor.
List of discovered minor planets
co-discoveries made with:
H. Debehogne
See also
*
References
1941 births
*
Discoverers of asteroids
Living people
20th-century Spanish astronomers
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