Pierre Lacroute

Pierre Lacroute (1906–1993),[1] was a French astrophysicist and pioneer of astrometry using satellite experiments.[2] He is known as the first proposer of the Hipparcos space experiment.[3][4]

Pierre Lacroute
Born
Alphonse Marie Pierre Lacroute

(1906-01-12)January 12, 1906
Dijon
DiedJanuary 14, 1993(1993-01-14) (aged 87)
La Verrière
NationalityFrench
AwardsPrix Jules Janssen (1975)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy and astrometry
InstitutionsToulouse Observatory
Observatory of Strasbourg

Education and career

After graduating in physics at École normale supérieure, Pierre Lacroute received a doctorate in physical sciences from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Paris in 1934. His Ph.D. thesis entitled Effet Zeeman du brome et de l'iode (Zeeman effect of bromine and of iodine) was directed by Eugène Bloch.[5]

From 1935 to 1946, Lacroute was an astronomer at the Toulouse Observatory where he set up an astrophysics department specializing in spectroscopic observation of stars.[6] From 1946 until his retirement in 1976, he was a professor of astronomy at the Faculty of Sciences of Strasbourg and served as director of the Observatory of Strasbourg. He led the observatory's involvement in the AGK3R program.[7] Since its creation in 1972 with the support of Jean Delhaye, then director of the National Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, the observatory has housed the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center), world database of astronomical knowledge.

Astrometry with artificial satellites

In the mid-1960s, Lacroute and Pierre Bacchus[8][9] studied the problem of equipping a satellite with a telescope in order to overcome observational problems caused by planet Earth's atmosphere. In 1967, Pierre Lacroute proposed to the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES, National Centre for Space Studies), to equip a artificial satellite with a telescope in order to obtain a star catalogue more accurate than could be established using terrestrial telescopes.[10] The CNES agreed to develop the project but in view of its cost decided to move towards multinational financing. After a feasibility study carried out in 1977, the European Space Agency finally agreed in 1980 to finance the mission. He was thus the initiator of the Hipparcos satellite project launched by an Ariane IV rocket in 1989.[11] The mission of this satellite was to measure the parallaxes of stars.

Awards and honours

The asteroid 1851 Lacroute, discovered by Louis Boyer in 1950, is named in his honour. Lacroute was awarded in 1975 Prix Jules Janssen[12] of the Société astronomique de France and in 1992 the Prix André Lallemand of the Académie des sciences.[13] He was in 1986 the president of the Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Dijon.[14] A street in Dijon, his native city, is named in his honour.

Selected publications
  • Lacroute, P. (1975). "Space astrometry projects". ESRO Space Astrometry: 5–30.
  • Lacroute, P. (1982). "The space astrometry project: history, technical evolution and future prospects". The Scientific Aspects of the Hipparcos Space Astrometry Mission. 177: 3–12.

References
  1. État civil sur le fichier des personnes décédées en France depuis 1970
  2. Biographie
  3. Jin, W.; Platais, I.; Perryman, M.A.C., eds. (2008). "The Hipparcos Catalogue: 10th anniversary and its legacy by Catherine Turon and Frédéric Arenou". A Giant Step: From Milli- to Micro- Arcsecond Astrometry: Proceedings of the 248th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Shanghai China on October 15–19, 2007. I.A.U. Symposium S248. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–7. ISBN 978-0-521-87470-0.
  4. Høg, Erik (2018). "Astrometry history: Hipparcos from 1964 to 1980". arXiv:1804.10881. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. "Notice BNF". catalogue.bnf.fr.
  6. Pérolle, Jean-Noël. "L'astronomie à Toulouse § Émile Paloque" (PDF). saptoulouse.net.
  7. Scott, F. P. (1960). "Report on the AGK3R". Astronomical Journal. 65 (4): 175–176..
  8. Dommanget, J.; Durand, P.; Pecker, J. C.; Savoie, D.; Soulié, E. "In memoriam : Pierre Bacchus". Observations & Travaux. 67: 45–47.
  9. Kovalevsky, J. (11 July 2009). "The ideas that led ESRO to consider a space astrometry mission" (PDF). astro.ku.dk.
  10. Lacroute, Pierre (1967). "Developments in instrumentation and techniques" (PDF). Proceedings of the 13th General Assembly, Transactions of the International Astronomical Union. XIII B: 63.
  11. Høg, E. (2011). "Astrometry lost and regained" (PDF). Baltic Astronomy. 20: 221–230.
  12. "Janssen Prize – Société astronomique de France". saf-astronomie.fr.
  13. "Prix André Lallemand" (PDF). Académie des sciences (academie-sciences.fr).
  14. "Lacroute, Pierre". Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques.
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