Bernard Guinot

Bernard René Guinot
Born(1925-09-08)September 8, 1925
DiedMarch 6, 2017(2017-03-06) (aged 91)
CitizenshipFrance
Alma materÉcole nationale de la marine marchande[2]
University of Paris
AwardsPrix Jules Janssen (1989)
Rabi Award (1999)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsParis Observatory

Bernard René Guinot (1925–2017) was a French astronomer. He is known for his contributions to the establishment of temps atomique international (TAI) and the geodetic reference system used in satellite navigation.[3][4]

Biography

From 1945 to 1952, Guinot served as an officer in the Messageries Maritimes.[3] In 1952 he became an astronomer at the Paris Observatory, where he worked with André Danjon on applications and further developments of the Danjon prismatic astrolabe.[4][5][6][7] The applications were especially concerned with precise determinations of polar motions and variations in the Earth's rotation. In 1958 with a dissertation on applications of the Danjon astrolabe, Guinot obtained his doctorate from the University of Paris.[4][8] He continued his employment as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory until 1990. From 1984 to 1992 he was a physicien principal (senior physicist), and then a consultant, at the Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM).[3]

Guinot served as a committee member for several commissions of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and from 1961 to 1967 was the president of the IAU's Commission 19 Rotation of the Earth.[9] He served as president for several organizations: the Conseil scientifique du service international du mouvement du pôle from 1962 to 1970, the Fédération des services d’astronomie et de géophysique from 1970 to 1972, and the Bureau des longitudes from 1984 to 1986.[3]

On the 1st of October 1964, as the successor to Nicolas Stoyko, Guinot became the director of the Bureau International de l'Heure (BIH) and continued his directorship until the BIH ceased to exist in 1988.[10] From 1975 to 1979 he was the director of the Laboratoire primaire du temp et des frequencies (LPTF).[2]

In 1979 in the paper Basic problems in the kinematics of the rotation of the Earth, Guinot proposed the use of a new equatorial origin, the "non-rotating origin" (NRO), for defining the Earth rotation angle (ERA) in the Earth's axial tilt as the basis for Universal Time.[4][11] He made important contributions to research on the measurement of time, to international cooperation in establishing standards for the measurement of time, and to organization networks for measurements in variation of Earth's rotation. He was one of the leading organizers of world-wide time metrology, networks for time comparison (particularly by satellite), and time dissemination for various users.[3] He did research on the reliability of atomic time scales that use networks of clocks.[12] He and his colleagues worked on a number of space experiments, such as determining the position of the Earth's pole using Doppler tracking of artificial satellites.[13] He collaborated in research on determining the radial velocities of Mercury,[14] studying movements in the atmosphere of Venus by spectroscopic methods,[15] and measuring the time of a round trip from the Earth to the Moon and back of a reflected light pulse.[16]

In July 1958 Bernard Guinot married Claudine Caillet. They had three sons.[2]

Awards and honours

Guinot received the CNRS Médaille de bronze in 1959. The Académie des sciences awarded him the Prix Feycinet in 1959, the Prix Deslandres in 1974, and the Prix du CEA in 1991.[3] He received the Société astronomique de France Prix Janssen in 1989 and the Académie de marine Prix Émile Girardeau in 1991.[3] In 1997 he was honoured with the PTTI Distinguished Service Medal from the Institute of Navigation[17] and the Tompion Gold Medal from the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. In 1999 he received the Rabi Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).[3] Guinot was elected a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences in 1983[3] and became a member of the Academia Europaea in 1988.[18] He was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre national du mérite and Officier des Palmes académiques.[3]

Selected publications

Articles

Books

References

  1. ^ a b "Guinot, Bernard René (search)". French register of deceased persons.
  2. ^ a b c "Biographie. Bernard Guinot, Astronome". Who's Who in France (in French).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Bernard Guinot 8 septembre 1925 —6 mars 2017" (PDF). Académie des sciences, Institute de France (in French).
  4. ^ a b c d Capitaine, Nicole; Arias, F.; Boucher, C. (2020). "Tribute to Bernard Guinot (1925-2017)" (PDF). Astrometry, Earth Rotation, and Reference Systems in the GAIA Era: 73–74. Bibcode:2020jsrs.conf...73C.
  5. ^ Heydari-Malayeri, M. "Danjon astrolabe". Paris Observatory.
  6. ^ "Danjon astrolabe". astro.vaporia.com.
  7. ^ "Telescope: 4-inch Danjon Prismatic Astrolabe, OPL. No. 9 (1956)". The Royal Observatory Greenwich.
  8. ^ Guinot, Bernard (1958). "L'Astrolabe Impersonnel A. Danjon Modéle OPL L'Observatoire de Paris. Étude des Résultats D'Une Annee D'Observations. Variation de La Latitude. Catalogue D'étoiles". Bulletin Astronomique. 22: 1–71. Bibcode:1958BuAst..22....1G. doi:10.3406/bastr.1958.14200.
  9. ^ "Bernard R. Guinot". International Astronomical Union | IAU.
  10. ^ "Bureau International de l'Heure (B.I.H.) - Archives". francearchives.gouv.fr (in French).
  11. ^ de Viron, Olivier; Dehant, Véronique; Capitaine, Nicole. "Reference system and non-rotating origin: the NRO for the rest of us" (PDF).
  12. ^ Guinot, B. (1987-01-01). "Some Properties of Algorithms for Atomic Time Scales". Metrologia. 24 (4). IOP Publishing: 195–198. Bibcode:1987Metro..24..195G. doi:10.1088/0026-1394/24/4/007. ISSN 0026-1394. S2CID 250888738.
  13. ^ Guinot, B. (1980). "Determination of the motion of the pole, and comparison with astrometry". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences. 294 (1410): 329–334. Bibcode:1980RSPTA.294..329G. doi:10.1098/rsta.1980.0039. S2CID 122717489.
  14. ^ Duchesne, Maurice; Guinot, Bernard; Texereau, Jean (1963). "Sur la mesure de la vitesse radiale de Mercure par la photographie electronique". Publications of the Observatoire Haute-Provence. 6 (50). Bibcode:1963POHP....6T....D.
  15. ^ Guinot, Bernard; Feissel, Martine (1968). "Mesure spectrographique de mouvements dans l'atmosphere de Venus". Publications of the Observatoire Haute-Provence. 9 (36): 13–20. Bibcode:1968POHP....9...13G.
  16. ^ Calame, O.; Guinot, B.; Kovalevsky, J.; Orszag, A. (1970). "Geodetic Measurements with Lunar Laser-Ranging". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 4: 18–30. Bibcode:1970A&A.....4...18C.
  17. ^ "PTTI Service Award". Institute of Navigation (ION).
  18. ^ "Bernard Guinot". Academia Europaea. 6 March 2017.
  19. ^ Orchiston, Wayne; Vahia, Mayank N., eds. (2021). "About the Authors". Exploring the History of Southeast Asian Astronomy: A Review of Current Projects and Future Prospects and Possibilities. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer International Publishing. p. xi. ISBN 978-3-030-62777-5.
  20. ^ Lea, Stephen N. "Review of The Measurement of Time: Time, Frequency and the Atomic Clock by Claude Audoin and Bernard Guinot". Measurement Science and Technology. 13 (2): 230–231. doi:10.1088/0957-0233/13/2/705. S2CID 250917526.