Antonín Bečvář

Antonín Bečvář (Czech pronunciation: [ˈantoɲiːn ˈbɛtʃvaːr̝̊]; 10 June 1901 – 10 January 1965) was a Czechoslovak astronomer.[1]

Biography

He was born and died in Stará Boleslav. Among his chief achievements is the foundation of the Skalnaté Pleso Observatory and the discovery of the comet C/1947 F2 (Bečvář) (also known by the designations 1947 III and 1947c). His lifelong illness led him to the High Tatras where he founded the observatory.[2]

Bečvář is particularly important for his star charts: he led the compilation of the Atlas Coeli Skalnate Pleso (1951), published by Sky Publishing Corporation as the Skalnate Pleso Atlas of the Heavens, which was the state-of-the-art atlas of its kind until Wil Tirion's "Sky Atlas 2000.0" in 1981. A dozen star names in the atlas are of unknown origin, no connection to any language or previous source has been discovered despite an extensive search.[3]

He also compiled Atlas eclipticalis, 1950.0 (1958), Atlas borealis 1950.0 (1962), and Atlas australis 1950.0 (1964).

The asteroid 4567 Bečvář and the crater Bečvář[4] on the Moon were named in his honour. American Avant-garde composer John Cage used Bečvář's star charts as the basis of several works: Atlas Eclipticalis (1961–1962), Etudes Australes (1974–1975), Etudes Boreales (1978) and Freeman Etudes (1977–1980, 1989–1990).

References

  1. ↑ "Obituary: Antonín Bečvář". Physics Today. 18 (9): 113. September 1965. doi:10.1063/1.3047707.
  2. ↑ Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  3. ↑ Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006). A Dictionary of Modern star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd rev. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Pub. ISBN 978-1-931559-44-7.
  4. ↑ "Bečvář". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
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