François Gonnessiat, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetFrançois Gonnessiat
French astronomer
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Mornay, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
About François Gonnessiat
- François Gonnessiat (May 22, 1856 (Nurieux-Volognat)–October 18, 1934) was a French astronomer, observer of comets and discoverer of two minor planets.He worked at the Observatory of Lyon.
- In 1889 he won the Lalande Prize for astronomy from the French Academy of Sciences; 1901 became director of the Quito (Ecuador) Observatory for the purpose of making geodetic measurements.
- He became a well known and respected member of the academic scene of the city, where a street is named after him.
- From 1908 to 1931, he was director of the Algiers Observatory where one of his colleagues was Benjamin Jekhovsky.
- He was also director of the Quito Astronomical Observatory.The asteroid 1177 Gonnessia was named in his memory (H 109).
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