Ferdinand Quénisset
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Ferdinand Jules Quénisset (1872–1951) was a French
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
who specialized in
astrophotography Astrophotography, also known as astronomical imaging, is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1839, but it was no ...
.


Early life and career

Quénisset was born on 8 August 1872 in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, the son of Gatien Jules Quénisset, an assistant director of the Administration des Monnaies et Médailles in Paris, and Juliette Antonia Mallard, a dressmaker.
Archives nationales (France), Archives nationales, Base Leonore, Cote 19800035/1234/42381

L'Astronomie (magazine), ''L'Astronomie'' 1951, vol. 65, p. 357.
He became a member of the
Société astronomique de France The Société astronomique de France (SAF; ), the France, French astronomical society, is a non-profit association in the public interest organized under French law (Association loi de 1901). Founded by astronomer Camille Flammarion in 1887, its ...
in 1890, after becoming interested in astronomy by reading Camille Flammarion's books. From 1891 to 1894, Quénisset served as member of the society's council as assistant librarian in the society's headquarters, which at the time was located at 28 rue Serpente in the
6th arrondissement of Paris The 6th arrondissement of Paris (''VIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le sixième''. The arrondissement, called Luxembourg in ...
. Quénisset worked as an observer at Flammarion's observatory in
Juvisy-sur-Orge Juvisy-sur-Orge (, literally ''Juvisy on Orge'') is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located southeast of Paris and a few kilometres south of Orly Airport. The city is known for Gare de Juvisy, ...
from 1891 to 1893, during which time he discovered a
comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
. He was forced to abandon astronomy for a dozen years while he performed his military service, but then returned to Juvisy in 1906 to resume his post at the observatory (he succeeded
Eugène Antoniadi Eugène Michel Antoniadi (Greek: Ευγένιος Αντωνιάδης; 1 March 1870 – 10 February 1944) was a Greek- French astronomer. He is known for creating the Antoniadi scale as well as for his observations of the planets, and was ...
, who had left Juvisy in 1902). Quénisset worked at the Juvisy observatory for the remainder of his career until 1947, when his health obliged him to quit. He was a member of the International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research in 1913. He was a member of the
International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...
and participated in Commissions 15
Physical Study of Comets & Minor Planets
and 16
Physical Study of Planets & Satellites
. Quénisset died on 8 April 1951 and is buried in the new cemetery of Juvisy.


Scientific achievements

* Co-discovered comet C/1893 N1 (Rordame–Quenisset) on 9 January 1893. * First in France to photograph
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 ...
in 1902. * Discovered comet C/1911 S2 (Quenisset) on 23 September 1911. * First to photograph details of the atmosphere of
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
in 1911. * Took nearly 6,000 astronomical photographs and more than 1,500 meteorological photographs s of 1932 many of which were published in the Bulletin of the Société astronomique de France, the Comptes Rendus des séances de l’Académie des sciences, and other scientific publications. His most noteworthy meteorological photographs were published as individual plates in the book ''Les Nuages et les Systèmes nuageux''. Quénisset also made numerous drawings of
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
,
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
,
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
and the
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
. * First to successfully record Mercury's
albedo feature In planetary geology, an albedo feature is a large area on the surface of a planet (or other Solar System body) which shows a contrast in brightness or darkness (albedo) with adjacent areas. Historically, albedo features were the first (and usu ...
s photographically. * First in France to photograph
Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...
, in Spring and Autumn 1930. * Delivered numerous conferences on astronomy in France (
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
,
Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
,
Saint-Quentin Saint-Quentin may refer to: Places Canada *Saint-Quentin, New Brunswick * Saint-Quentin Parish, New Brunswick * Saint-Quentin Island, in Trois-Rivières, in Québec France * Saint-Quentin, Aisne, in the Aisne department * Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines ...
,
Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...
,
Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
,
Crépy-en-Valois Crépy-en-Valois (, ) is a commune located in the Oise department in northern France. It is located in the Paris Metropolitan Area, northeast of the center of Paris. History Crépy-en-Valois was founded in the tenth century by the count of ...
) and in other countries (
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
,
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
).


Awards and honors

* 1899 - Prix des Dames from the Société Astronomique de France. "Prix et Médailles décernés par la Société," L'Astronomie (magazine), ''L'Astronomie'', vol. 81, page 398. * 1901 - Officier d'académie by decree of the Ministre de l'instruction publique et des beaux-arts of 12 April 1901. * 1911 - Donohoe Comet-Medal (Seventy-Second) from the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) is an American scientific and educational organization, founded in San Francisco on February 7, 1889, immediately following the solar eclipse of January 1, 1889. Its name derives from its origins on ...
, for his discovery of the comet C/1911 S2 (Quenisset) on 23 September 1911. * 1923 - Honorary member of the Société astronomique Flammarion de Genève, for his contribution to the establishment of that association. * 1926 - Médaille Commémorative from the Société Astronomique de France. * 1932 - Chevalier of the
Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
on 29 December 1932. * 1933 - First Prize in the Concours photographie de nuages (Cloud Photography Competition) of the Office National Météorologique. * 1934 -
Valz Prize The Valz Prize ''(Prix Valz)'' was awarded by the French Academy of Sciences, from 1877 through 1970, to honor advances in astronomy. History The Valz Prize was established in June 1874 when the widow of astronomer Benjamin Valz, Marie Madeleine ...
from the
French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
for his observations of comets. * 1938 - Prix Gabrielle et Camille Flammarion from the Société Astronomique de France. * 1945 - Prix Dorothéa Klumpke-Isaac Roberts from the Société Astronomique de France. * 1973 - Quenisset impact crater on Mars named in his honor by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). * 2022 - Asteroid 423645 Quénisset named in his honor by the IAU.


Publications


Author

* ''Les phototypes sur papier au gélatinobromure'' (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1901). * ''Applications de la photographie à la physique et à la météorologie'' (Paris: Charles Mendel, 1901). * ''Manuel pratique de photographie astronomique à l'usage des amateurs photographes'' (Paris: Charles Mendel, 1903). * ''Instruction pour la photographie des nuages'' (Paris: Office National de Météorologie, 1923), . * ''Annuaire astronomique et météorologique Camille Flammarion'' (Paris: Flammarion (impr. de Jouve), 1937–1951).


Contributor

* ''Cours de météorologie à l'usage des candidats au brevet de météorologiste militaire. 2ème Partie, Les Nuages et les Systèmes nuageux: Planches'' (Paris : Office national météorologique de France, 1926). * ''Atlas international des nuages et des types de ciels. I. Atlas général'' (Paris : Office National Météorologique de France, 1939).Bibliothèque nationale de France Gallica catalog entry
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References


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:Quenisset, Ferdinand 1872 births 1951 deaths 19th-century French astronomers 20th-century French astronomers Astrophotographers Scientists from Paris Q