Daniel Barbier (10 December 1907 – 1 April 1965) was a French astronomer born in Lyon. Between 1930 and 1965 he published nearly 100 scientific papers on astronomy. Among his works were studies of stellar atmospheres and lunar occultations and eclipses. He performed studies of the

upper atmosphere Upper atmosphere is a collective term that refers to various layers of the atmosphere of the Earth above the troposphere and corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets, and includes: * The mesosphere, which on Earth lies between th ...

Aurora Borealis An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, the

zodiacal light The zodiacal light (also called false dawn when seen before sunrise) is a faint glow of diffuse sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust. Brighter around the Sun, it appears in a particularly dark night sky to extend from the Sun's direct ...

and the night airglow. His name remains associated to the famous Eddington-Barbier relationships of analytical radiative transfer (see Barbier 1943 and Paletou 2018).

Honors

* The lunar crater '' Barbier'' was named after him in 1970. * Asteroid 37853 Danielbarbier, discovered by

Eric Elst Eric Walter Elst (30 November 1936 – 2 January 2022) was a Belgian astronomer at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle and a prolific discoverer of asteroids. The Minor Planet Center ranks him among the top 10 discoverers of minor planets wi ...

La Silla Observatory La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Several other telescopes are also located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observato ...

in 1998, was named in his honor. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

on 5 October 2017 ().

References

* * * 1907 births 1965 deaths 20th-century French astronomers Recipients of the Lalande Prize {{france-astronomer-stub