Jean kovalevsky biography

Jean Kovalevsky (May 18, – August 17, ) was a French astronomer, specializing in celestial mechanics. He is known as a primary initiator (with Pierre Lacroute) and a leader of the Hipparcos space experiment.^[1][2][3]

Biography

Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Kovalevsky was the son of Russian immigrants and grew up bilingual in Russian and French.

He studied from to at the École normale supérieure graduating with the agrégation in mathematics in He held from to the positions attaché de techerche and then chargé de recherche (CR) at the Paris Observatory.

He was from to a graduate student and research assistant at Yale University. In he received his doctorate at Yale from Dirk Brouwer on the movement of the 8th moon of Jupiter.^[4][5]

From to Kovalevsky was head of celestial mechanics at the Bureau des Longitudes.

Celestial mechanics experienced a new boom in the Sputnik age and he published an introductio