13 Facts About Audouin Dollfus

Audouin Charles Dollfus was a French astronomer and aeronaut, specialist in studies of the Solar System and discoverer of Janus, a moon of Saturn.

Audouin Dollfus published more than 300 scientific publications, relating primarily to astrophysics of the Solar System.

Audouin Dollfus tried to determine the composition of the Martian desert, through comparison with the appearance in polarized light of several hundred terrestrial minerals.

Audouin Dollfus found that only pulverized limonite corresponded with the appearance of Mars, and concluded that the Martian surface could be composed of iron oxide.

Audouin Dollfus announced that he had detected a very small atmosphere, again using polarization measurements made at the Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees.

Audouin Dollfus's discovery contradicted the previous theoretical predictions based on the kinetic theory of gases.

Audouin Dollfus studied the possible presence of an atmosphere around the Moon.

The presence of any atmosphere should be detectable by the polarization of light; Bernard Lyot and later Audouin Dollfus showed that there was no detectable polarization, thereby confirming the theoretical prediction that the Moon lacks an atmosphere.

In 1966, Audouin Dollfus discovered Janus, a small inner moon of Saturn.

Audouin Dollfus made this discovery by observing at a time when the rings, very close to Janus, were nearly edge-on to the Earth and thus practically invisible.

In 1981, Audouin Dollfus became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.

Audouin Dollfus was the first to carry out astronomical observations from a stratospheric balloon, in particular to study Mars in a detailed way.

Audouin Dollfus was the President of the Societe astronomique de France, the French popular astronomy society, from 1979 to 1981.