E. M. Antoniadi
Eugène Michel Antoniadi (Greek Εὐγένιος Μιχαὴλ Αντωνιάδης, born March 10, 1870 in Constantine Opel, † February 10, 1944 in Paris, also Eugène Michael Antoniadi or Eugenios Antoniadi ), was a born in the Ottoman Empire Greek astronomer who in most of his life France spent. He was known primarily for excellent observations of the planets Mercury and Mars.
From architecture to astronomy
Antoniadi initially studied architecture and worked on the Hagia Sophia, the extent of it as one of the first and scientifically examined. Soon also interested in astronomy, he started various observations that have been published on mediation by Camille Flammarion and introduced it in the astronomique société de France 1891.
As a 23 -year-old moved to France and Antoniadi Observer was to Flammarioms observatory in Juvisy -sur -Orge. After his 1895 published observations on large 24cm Equatorial He was inducted into the British Astronomical Association and appointed in the following year with a solar eclipse expedition to Norway.
Masterful maps of Mars and Mercury
From 1898, the planet Mars and its 1877 discovered by Giovanni Schiaparelli " Canali " became the focus of his observations. In contrast to his patron Flammarion but Antoniadi came when he was working at the 83 -cm giant telescope of the Paris Meudon Observatory during the Mars opposition of 1909. He came to the conclusion that it must be at the "Mars channels " optical illusions, as the line structures would only smaller scopes to visible. He made the next 20 years and more detailed maps of Mars, where he mapped the Canali by continuous rows of dark spots. His 1930 published 4-piece Carte de Mars was up to the U.S. space probes of the 1960s, the most accurate cartography of the "red planet ". → For more information on special products canals of Mars.
Antoniadi also produced a map of the planet Mercury, the means of ground-based telescopes was very inaccurate because of the difficulty viewing opportunities of the planet yet and was published in 1934. However, he went out of the mistaken belief that Mercury has a synchronous rotation of 1:1 during the rotation around the sun. For the nomenclature of the albedo, it kept the mythology of the god Hermes, the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Mercury. The names Audouin Dollfus took over in his map of 1972. They are also used in current map of the planet that were created by exploration by space probes.
Other activities
For long-term observations of Saturn he took Radial, spoke- like structures in Saturn's rings true. However, it was dismissed by most astronomers as optical illusions, especially since Antoniadis should move structures with the rotation period of the planet and not the rings. Not until 1981 that the existence of the spokes was confirmed by recordings of the Voyager 1 spacecraft.
To evaluate the seeing ( atmospheric turbulence ), he led a five-part scale a ( " Antoniadi - scale ").
In 1925 he was awarded the Jules Janssen Award. To commemorate Antoniadis a moon crater, a Martian crater and a surface structure on Mercury ( Antoniadi dorsum ) was named.
Antoniadi was also a strong chess player. In a tournament in Paris in 1907, he finished undefeated in first place with Frank Marshall, a full point ahead of Savielly Tartakower.
Writings
- Ekphrasis tēs Hagias Sophia. 3 volumes. From 1907 to 1909.