{{Short description|French astronomer (1907–1975)}} {| class="wikitable floatright" |+ '''Asteroids discovered'''<ref name="MPC-discoverers" /> | 1215 Boyer || January 19, 1932 || align=center | <ref name="jpl-boyer" /> |- | 1622 Chacornac || March 15, 1952 || align=center | <ref name="jpl-chacornac" /> |- | 1614 Goldschmidt || April 18, 1952 || align=center | <ref name="jpl-goldschmidt" /> |- | 3156 Ellington || March 15, 1953 || align=center | <ref name="jpl-ellington" /> |}
'''Alfred Schmitt''' (30 November 1907 – 2 April 1975<ref>{{cite web | url=https://deces.matchid.io/search?q=Alfred+Schmitt+30%2F11%2F1907&size=n_60_n | title=MatchID - Moteur de recherche des décès }}</ref>) was a French astronomer. Schmitt worked at Algiers Observatory in the 1930s and 1940s and at the Royal Observatory in Uccle, Belgium in the 1950s. From 1955 to 1958 he was also director of the Quito Observatory in Ecuador. He extensively studied minor planets and comets and is credited with having discovered four asteroids.<ref name="Schmadel-Alschmitt" />
== Personal life ==
Between 1940 and 1948 he married his colleague, astronomer Odette Bancilhon and thereafter she signed her work as ''O. Schmitt-Bancilhon''.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Traut|first1=B.|title=Strasbourg Observatory Scientific Personnel (From Foundation to About Year 2000)|date=2005|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3644-2_18|work=The Multinational History of Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory|pages=277–292|place=Dordrecht|publisher=Springer Netherlands|isbn=978-1-4020-3643-9|access-date=2021-06-25|last2=Heck|first2=A.|last3=Duerbeck|first3=H.W.|doi=10.1007/1-4020-3644-2_18 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
== Signature ==
Schmitt's publications are all signed '''A. Schmitt''', following the practice of his profession at that time.
== Boyer ==
In 1932, Schmitt discovered an asteroid while working at the Algiers Observatory and named it in honor of his colleague, Louis Boyer – asteroid 1215 Boyer.<ref name="Schmadel-Boyer" />
20 years later, Boyer named 1617 Alschmitt in Schmitt's honor.<ref name="Schmadel-Alschmitt" />
== References == <references>
<ref name="MPC-discoverers">{{cite web |url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPDiscsAlpha.html |title=Minor Planet Discoverers (Alphabetically) |work=Minor Planet Center |accessdate=19 October 2015 }}</ref>
<ref name="Schmadel-Alschmitt">{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1617) Alschmitt |last=Schmadel |first=Lutz D. |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |page=128 |date=2003 |isbn=978-3-540-29925-7 |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1618 |chapter = (1617) Alschmitt}}</ref>
<ref name="Schmadel-Boyer">{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1215) Boyer |last=Schmadel |first=Lutz D. |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |page=101 |date=2003 |isbn=978-3-540-29925-7 |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1216 |chapter = (1215) Boyer}}</ref>
<ref name="jpl-boyer">{{cite web |title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1215 Boyer (1932 BA) |url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2001215 |publisher=Jet Propulsion Laboratory |accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>
<ref name="jpl-chacornac">{{cite web |title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1622 Chacornac (1952 EA) |url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2001622 |publisher=Jet Propulsion Laboratory |accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>
<ref name="jpl-goldschmidt">{{cite web |title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1614 Goldschmidt (1952 HA) |url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2001614 |publisher=Jet Propulsion Laboratory |accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>
<ref name="jpl-ellington">{{cite web |title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 3156 Ellington (1953 EE) |url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2003156 |publisher=Jet Propulsion Laboratory |accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>
</references> <!-- end of reflist -->
== External links == * [https://books.google.com/books?id=aeAg1X7afOoC&pg Dictionary of Minor Planet Names], Google books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitt, Alfred}} Category:20th-century French astronomers Category:Discoverers of asteroids Category:1907 births Category:1973 deaths Category:French people of colonial Algeria Category:French expatriates in Belgium
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