Benjamin Baillaud

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Benjamin Baillaud

Édouard Benjamin Baillaud (14 February 1848 – 8 July 1934) was a French astronomer

Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist who studies Celestial body such as planets, stars, and Galaxy.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using physical laws....
.

in Chalon-sur-Saône

Chalon-sur-Saône

Chalon-sur-Sa?ne is a town and communes of France in central France, in the Sa?ne-et-Loire departments of France, of which it is a Subprefectures in France....
, Baillaud studied at the École Normale Supérieure

École Normale Supérieure

The ?cole normale sup?rieure is a France Grandes ?coles . The ENS was initially conceived during the French Revolution, and intended to provide the First French Republic with a new body of teacher, trained in the critical spirit and secular values of the the Enlightenment....
and the University of Paris

University of Paris

The historic University of Paris first appeared in the 12th century. In 1970 it was reorganized as 13 autonomous university . The university is often referred to as the Sorbonne or La Sorbonne after the collegiate institution founded about 1257 by Robert de Sorbon....
. He worked as an assistant at the Paris Observatory

Paris Observatory

The Paris Observatory is the foremost astronomy observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centers in the world....
beginning in 1872. Later he was director of the Toulouse Observatory

Toulouse Observatory

The Observatoire de Toulouse is located in Toulouse, France and was established in 1733. It was founded by l'Acad?mie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Toulouse ....
from 1878 to 1907, during much of this time serving as Dean of the University of Toulouse

University of Toulouse

The University of Toulouse is a consortium of universities and other institutions of higher education and research, named after one of the earliest University established in Europe in 1229, and including the successor universities to that earlier university....
Faculty of Science.

He greatly expanded the observatory and enthusiastically supported the Carte du Ciel
Carte du Ciel

The Carte du Ciel and the Astrographic Catalogue were two distinct but connected components of a massive international astronomical project, initiated in the late 19th century, to catalogue and map the positions of millions of stars as faint as 11th or 12th stellar magnitude....
project.

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Encyclopedia

Édouard Benjamin Baillaud (14 February 1848 – 8 July 1934) was a French astronomer

Astronomer

Biography

Born in Chalon-sur-Saône

Chalon-sur-Saône

École Normale Supérieure

University of Paris

Paris Observatory

Toulouse Observatory

University of Toulouse

Celestial mechanics

Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motion s of celestial objects. The field applies principles of physics, historically classical mechanics, to astronomical objects such as stars and planets to produce ephemeris data....
, in particular the motions of the satellite

Natural satellite

A natural satellite or moon is a celestial body that orbits a planet or smaller body, which is called the primary. Technically, the term natural satellite could refer to a planet orbiting a star, or a dwarf galaxy orbiting a major galaxy, but it is normally synonymous with moon and used to identify non-artificial satellites...
s of Saturn.

In 1903, the observatory took over a facility on the Pic du Midi

Pic du Midi de Bigorre

The Pic du Midi de Bigorre or simply Pic du Midi is a mountain in the France Pyrenees famous for its astronomical observatory, the Observatoire du Pic du Midi de Bigorre , part of the Observatoire Midi-Pyr?n?es ....
in the Pyrenees

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees are a mountain range in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain. They separate the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, and extend for about from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea ....
that had been founded by amateurs in the 1850s with the goal of putting a telescope

Telescope

A telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects by the collection of electromagnetic radiation. The first known practically functioning telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century....
there. However, the height of 2865 metres (9400 feet) posed formidable logistical challenges and the ambition had remained unrealised though a meteorological observatory had operated from 1873 to 1880. Baillaud organised a team of soldiers to erect a 0.5 metre (20 inch) reflecting telescope

Reflecting telescope

A reflecting telescope is an optical telescope which uses a single or combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century as an alternative to the refracting telescope which, at that time, was a design that suffered from severe chromatic aberration....
, and 0.25 metre refracting telescope

Refracting telescope

A refracting or refractor telescope is a Dioptrics telescope that uses a lens as its Objective to form an image. The refracting telescope design was originally used in telescope and astronomical telescopes but is also used in other devices such as binoculars and long or Telephoto lens camera lenses....
on the summit.

In 1907, he became director of the Paris Observatory

Paris Observatory

The Paris Observatory is the foremost astronomy observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centers in the world....
where he immediately set to work to relaunch the stalled Carte du Ciel project with a conference held at the observatory, entertained by singers from the Paris Opera

Académie Royale de Musique

Th??tre de l?Acad?mie Royale de Musique was the official theatre of the French theatrical institution known as the Acad?mie Royale de Musique from 1821 until 1873, and was principal venue of the Parisian opera and ballet companies until its destruction by fire in 1873....
and refreshed by wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
provided by the director of the Bordeaux Observatory

Bordeaux Observatory

The Bordeaux Observatory in an astronomical observatory affiliated with the University of Bordeaux. Built in Floirac, France in 1893 its lenses were focused between +11 and +17 degrees declination....
. Though the French government agreed to fund the project, it was becoming increasingly clear that its objectives were hopelessly unrealistic.

Baillaud was active in time standardisation

Universal Time

Universal Time is a timescale based on the rotation of the Earth. It is a modern continuation of Greenwich Mean Time , i.e., the mean solar time on the meridian of Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and GMT is sometimes used loosely as a synonym for UTC....
, becoming the founding president of the International Time Bureau

International Time Bureau

The Bureau International de l'Heure or the International Time Bureau, seated at the Paris Observatory, was the international bureau responsible for combining different measurements of Universal Time....
and initiating the transmission of a time signal

Time signal

A time signal is a visible, audible, mechanical, or electronic signal used as a reference to determine the time of day....
from the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is an Puddle iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine River in Paris. The tower has become a global Cultural icon of France and is one of the most recognizable structures in the world....
. Baillaud maintained the observatory and the time signal throughout World War I

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, even though the German howitzer

Howitzer

A howitzer is a type of artillery piece that is characterized by a relatively short Barrel and the use of comparatively small explosive charges to propel projectiles at trajectories with a steep angle of descent....
Big Bertha
Big Bertha (Howitzer)

Big Bertha is the name of a type of super-heavy howitzer developed by the famous armaments manufacturer Krupp in Imperial Germany on the eve of World War I....
was targeted on the nominal co-ordinates of Paris, the location of the observatory! Baillaud's concern for the astronomical time standard led him to be an outspoken opponent of daylight saving time

Daylight saving time

Daylight saving time is the convention of advancing clocks so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less. Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in autumn....
.

Baillaud became founding president of the International Astronomical Union

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy....
in 1919. He retired as director of the Paris Observatory in 1926.

He won the Bruce Medal

Bruce Medal

The Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal is awarded every year by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy....
in 1923.

The crater Baillaud

Baillaud (crater)

Baillaud is a moon Impact crater that is located near the north limb of the Moon. The rim of the crater has been eroded and worn by a long history of impacts, leaving a hilly ridge surrounding the interior....
on the Moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
is named after him, and so is asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun, smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids....
11764 Benbaillaud

11764 Benbaillaud

is a main belt asteroid with an orbital period of 1187.8009673 days . The asteroid was discovered on September 24, 1960....
. 1280 Baillauda

1280 Baillauda

1280 Baillauda is a Outer Main-belt Asteroid discovered on August 18, 1933 by Delporte, E. at Uccle.External links ...
is named after his son Jules Baillaud.

External links

Obituaries

(one sentence, in German)
(one paragraph)