The Astronomer Jules Janssen: A Globetrotter of Celestial Physics (Astrophysics and Space Science Library, 380)

A physicist and an inventor, Jules Janssen (1824-1907) devoted his life to astronomical research. He spent many years traveling around the world to observe total Solar eclipses, demonstrating that a new era of science had just come thanks to the use of both spectroscopy and photography, and persuading the French Government of the necessity of founding a new observatory near Paris. He became its director in 1875. There, at Meudon, he began routine photographic recordings of the Sun surface and had a big refractor and a big reflector built. Meanwhile, he also succeeded in building an Observatory at the summit of Mont-Blanc. The story of this untiring and stubborn globe-trotter is enriched by extracts of the unpublished correspondence with his wife. One can thus understand why Henriette often complained of the solitude in which she was left by her peripatetic husband: “There are men who leave their wives for mistresses; you do it for journeys!” ... Basking in the glow of his success, Janssen was able to undertake the construction of the great astrophysical observatory of which he had dreamed. It was at Meudon that he had it built. Every aspect of the personality of Janssen (1824--1907) - that D'Artagnan of science, this bard of the Sun, and this audacious master builder - is covered here by Françoise Launay, his attentive and equally erudite biographer. A physicist, inventor and builder, Janssen was guided by his energy and curiosity. His research followed two directions: on the one hand the atmospheres of the Earth and the Sun, and on the other, two techniques: spectroscopy and photography. Among his numerous voyages across the globe, he went to Japan in 1874 to follow the transit of Venus in front of the Sun, the same year in which he invented his famous photographic revolver, which was, in truth, a great technical success. To observe the Sun during total eclipses he traveled to the Indies in 1868, to Oran in 1870 (escaping from besieged Paris by balloon!), returned to India in 1871, left for Siam in 1875 and, in 1883, for an island in the Pacific. One can thus understand why Henriette often complained of the solitude in which she was left by her peripatetic husband: "There are men who leave their wives for mistresses; you do it for journeys!" ... Basking in the glow of his success, Janssen was able to undertake the construction of the great astrophysical observatory of which he had dreamed. It was at Meudon that he had it built. From the Preface by Jean-Claude Pecker Front Matter....Pages i-xxii Foreword....Pages 1-7 Childhood and Education....Pages 9-20 Spectral Analysis and the Telluric Lines....Pages 21-34 Janssen and the Solar Flames: The Key Eclipse of 1868....Pages 35-47 The Eclipse of 1870, Balloons, and Patriotic Missions....Pages 49-62 Janssen and the Sun in Its Majesty: The Eclipse of 1871....Pages 63-71 Janssen and the Cinema: The Transit of Venus of 1874 and the Revolver Photographique....Pages 73-87 The Foundation of the “Paris Observatory for Physical Astronomy” ... Located in the Meudon Estate....Pages 89-108 Janssen, the Photographic Technician....Pages 109-121 From Caroline Island to Washington....Pages 123-135 Janssen and Edison’s Phonograph....Pages 137-142 The Saga of the Observatory on the Summit of Mont Blanc....Pages 143-161 Literary Salons and Educational Problems....Pages 163-171 Janssen and Communication....Pages 173-192 Back Matter....Pages 193-220 Enriched by unpublished correspondence and other fresh archival material, this is the first biography of Jules Janssen, the father of French astrophysics and the founder of Meudon Observatory, whose remarkable story tells of travel and dedication to science