Jean Kovalevsky

Jean Kovalevsky (born May 18, 1929 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ; † August 17, 2018 ) was a French astronomer, specialist in celestial mechanics and initiator of the Hipparcos mission.

Life

Kovalevsky was the son of Russian immigrants and was raised in Russian and French as a child. He studied from 1951 to 1955 at the École normal supérieure with a degree in mathematics in 1954. From 1955 to 1960 he was Attaché de Recherche and Chargé de Recherche at the Paris Observatory and from 1957 to 1959 assistant at Yale University . In 1959 he received his doctorate in Yale with Dirk Brouwer on the motion of the 8th Jupiter moon and from 1960 to 1971 he was head of celestial mechanics at the Bureau des Longitudes . The celestial mechanics experienced in Sputnik a new lease -Zeitalter and he published an introduction to celestial mechanics, which also took into account the orbits of artificial satellites. At the Bureau des Longitudes he founded the Service des Calculs et de Mécanique Céleste , where he developed new calculation methods using computer algebra methods that were continuously improved over time with his staff. From 1971 to 1978 he was head of the spatial geodesy research group (Groupe de recherches de géodésie spatiale, GRGS), which was also supported by the French space agency CNES , and from 1974 to 1982 he was the first director of the Center de recherches en géodynamique et astrométrie (CERGA ) in Grasse , which from 1988 was merged with the Nice Observatory to form the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur . From 1982 he was only an astronomer at CERGA when he took over the FAST consortium, and from 1987 to 1992 again director. In 1994 he retired.

Kovalevsky was married and had three children.

plant

He deals with celestial mechanics (e.g. methods for calculating the orbits of artificial satellites, the moons of planets and the moon) and astrometry. At the Paris observatory, his group developed advanced computer algorithms for celestial mechanics that were also used in the Gaia mission (the INPOP software). In astrometry, he was involved in the Hipparcos mission to precisely measure proper motion and parallax of 118,000 stars. He initiated the European phase of preparing Hipparcos at a meeting in Frascati in 1974 and lobbying tirelessly until the ESA decided on the mission in 1980. In 1982 he took over the management of data analysis (FAST consortium). He was also involved in the successor Gaia as a member of the Reference Frame and Relativity working group. Despite his deteriorating health, he still saw the first dates from Gaia.

He was also involved in the geodesy program of the French satellites D1A (Diapason) as well as D1C and D1D and in the international geodesy program International Satellite Geodesy Experiment (ISAGEX) 1972/73.

Memberships and honors

In 1974 he became a corresponding member and in 1988 a full member of the Académie des sciences ; He was also an external member of the Russian Academy of Metrology, a full member of the Academia Europaea (1989) and an external member of the Academy in Turin (1989). From 1995 to 2004 he was President of the Bureau national de métrologie and from 1997 to 2004 President of the Comité International des Poids et Mesures (CIPM). He was a member of the American Astronomical Society and the International Academy of Astronautics.

He was a knight of the Legion of Honor , commander of the Ordre national du mérite , officer of the Palmes Académiques and received the Grand Cross of the Scientific Order of Merit of Brazil.

In 2009 he received the Prix Georges Lemaitre, in 1963 the Prix Damoiseau of the Academie des Sciences, in 1966 and 1971 the silver medal of the Center national d'études spatiales (CENS) and in 1984 the Prix Alexandre Joannidès of the Academie des Sciences.

Fonts

Books:

• Introduction à la mécanique céleste, Paris: A. Colin 1963
  • English translation: Introduction to Celestial Mechanics, Reidel 1967 (also translated into Chinese in 1984)
• with JJ Levallois: Géodésie générale, Volume 4, Paris: Eyrolles 1971
• Astrométrie moderne, Springer Verlag 1990
  • English translation: Modern Astrometry, Springer Verlag 1995, 2002 (also translated into Russian in 2004)
• with P. Kenneth Seidelmann: Fundamentals of Astrometry, Cambridge University Press 2004
• Editor with VA Brumberg: Relativity in celestial mechanics and astrometry: high precision dynamical theories and observational verificationsm, IAU Symposium, Leningrad 1985, Dordrecht: Reidel 1986
• Editor: Reference frames in astronomy and geophysics, Kluwer 1989
• Editor with Seidelmann: Applications of computer technology to dynamical astronomy, IAU Colloq. Gaithersburg / Maryland 1988, Kluwer 1989

Some essays:

• Méthode numérique de calcul des perturbations générales: application au 8e satellite de Jupiter, Bulletin Astronomique, Volume 22, 1959, pp. 1–83 (dissertation)
• Sur le mouvement d'un satellite à inclinaison et excentricité quelconque, Compte Rendus Acad. Sci., Vol. 258, 1964, pp. 4435-4438
• with F. Barlier, L. Stellmacher: Première réduction de l'expérience française sur le satellite D1A, Space Research, Volume 9, 1970, pp. 29-37
• with A. Bec-Borsenberger: Convergence of a litteral solution of Lunar theory, in: Natural and Artificial Satellite Motion, 1979, pp. 83-98
• with M. Froeschlé: The connection of a catalog of stars with the extragalactic reference frame, Astronomy and astrophysics, I, Volume 115, 1982, 89-97
• with others: Construction of the intermediate Hipparcos astrometric catalog, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 304, 1995, pp. 34-43
• with others: The Hipparcos catalog as a realization of the extragalactic reference system, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 323, 1997, pp. 620-633

Web links

• J. Kovalevsky publications in the Astrophysics Data System
• Biography at the Academie des Sciences, pdf

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jean Kovalevsky - Cosmos. Retrieved September 9, 2018 (UK English).