Biography of eight astronomers and physicists

Abstract

We provide a brief biography of seven French astronomers and physicists and of a Russian astronomer from the 19th and 20th centuries. Roger Bouigue (1920-) was the director of Toulouse Observatory in the 1960s. Claude-Louis Mathieu (1783-1875), a member of Bureau des Longitudes, worked in geodetics and celestial mechanics. Claude Pouillet (1790-1868), a physics professor, was the first to measure the solar constant. Yves Rocard (1903-1992) conducted research in many fields of physics, and founded the radioastronomy Observatory of Nancay. Jean Rosch (1915-1999) was the director of Pic du Midi Observatory for over thirty years, and in this capacity lead it to the forefront of research in high-resolution solar and planetary astronomy. Cyrille Souillart (1828-1898) had a lifelong interest in the theory of Jupiter's satellites. Jules Violle (1841- 1923) was a physics professor who determined the temperature of the solar photosphere. The Russian astronomer Kirill Ogorodnikov (1900-1985) wrote a well-known manual on stellar dynamics.