Jean Dufay

Jean Claude Barthélemy Dufay (July 18, 1896–November 6, 1967) was a French astronomer.

During his career he studied nebulae, interstellar matter, the night sky and cometary physics. In 1925, while working in collaboration with Jean Cabannes, he computed the altitude of the Earth's ozone layer. He was named the honorary director of the Lyon Observatory.[1][2] Some of his proteges who worked with him in the observatory included Marie Bloch and Charles Fehrenbach.[3] He became a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1963.[4]

His undergrad was completed in 1913 and his Ph.D. in 1928 under Charles Fabry and Jean Cabannes. In between, he served (and was wounded) in World War I and taught. Dufay was appointed at the Lyon Observatory since 1929 and stayed there until his retirement in 1966.[5]

He was awarded the Valz Prize by the French Academy of Sciences in 1932 for his work on astronomical photometry.[6] The crater Dufay on the Moon is named after him.[7]

  1. ^ Staff (1999). "OBITUARY: Jean Dufay; Cuno Hoffmeister". Irish Astronomical Journal. 9: 167. Bibcode:1969IrAJ....9..169.
  2. ^ Kopal, Z. (1968). "Jean Dufay (1896-1967)". Astrophysics and Space Science (in French). 1 (4): 409–410. Bibcode:1968Ap&SS...1..409K. doi:10.1007/BF00658764.
  3. ^ Mueller, Ivan I.; Kolaczek, Barbara (2013). Developments in Astrometry and Their Impact on Astrophysics and Geodynamics: Proceedings of the 156th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union Held in Shanghai, China, September 15–19, 1992. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. xviii. ISBN 978-0-7923-2238-2.
  4. ^ "Les Membres de l'Académie des sciences depuis sa création (en 1666)" (in French). Académie des sciences. Archived from the original on 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
  5. ^ Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  6. ^ "Prix et Subventions Attribués en 1931: Prix Valz". Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences. December 12, 1932. p. 1128.
  7. ^ "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Couder". International Astronomical Union (IAU) / USGS Astrogeology Science Center. Oct 18, 2010.