François Gonnessiat

Asteroids discovered: 2 ^[1]
915 Cosette	December 14, 1918
931 Whittemora	March 19, 1920

François Gonnessiat (May 22, 1856 (Nurieux-Volognat)–October 18, 1934) was a French astronomer, observer of comets and discoverer of two minor planets.^[2]^[3]

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.^[3] He was also director of the Quito Astronomical Observatory.^[2]

The asteroid 1177 Gonnessia was named in his memory (H 109).^[2]

Obituary

The obituary notice incorrectly states that he was director of the Algiers Observatory only until 1916,^[3] rather than 1931.^[4]

^ "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 20 June 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(1177) Gonnessia". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1177) Gonnessia. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 99. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1178. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
^ ^a ^b ^c T.L.M. (December 1934). "Notes – Obituary". The Observatory. 57: 386–392. Bibcode:1934Obs....57..386.
^ Reiss, G. (January 1931). "Positions de petites planètes". Journal des Observateurs. 14: 127. Bibcode:1931JO.....14..127R.

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