Abstract
IN the February issue of The Observatory (66, 23; 1945), D. Chalonge gives a brief history of French astronomy and astronomers during the German occupation. Among the astronomers dismissed under the Vichy racial decrees—M. Lambert, director of the Bureau International de l'Heure, M. Mendès, M. Belorïzsky and Mlle. Bloch, assistants at the Observatories of Bordeaux, Marseilles and Lyons respectively—all have been reinstated except M. Lambert, who was arrested in August 1943 and deported to Germany, and about whose safety there is anxiety. M. Mineur, director of the Institut d'Astrophysique, was several times imprisoned for political reasons. Removed by the Vichy Government from his post at the Observatory of Paris, he devoted much of his time to the resistance movement, and is now back with his former colleagues. M. Danjon, director of the Observatory of Strasbourg and dean of the Faculty of Science in the University, was also many times arrested by the Germans during the Gestapo campaign against the University, and was finally dismissed by the Vichy Government. Many astronomers were, however, allowed to work in the tranquillity of their observatories. In some cases this tranquillity covered patriotic activities, the observatories becoming meeting-places for the local resistance groups where pamphlets were printed and arms stored. Observatory buildings throughout France have come through the War unscathed, except perhaps those at Strasbourg, about which news is still lacking.
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Astronomy in France during the Occupation. Nature 155, 722 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155722a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155722a0