# Fernand Baldet

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"Baldet" redirects here. For other uses, see [Baldet (disambiguation)](/source/Baldet_(disambiguation)).

**Fernand Baldet** (16 March 1885 – 8 November 1964) was a French [astronomer](/source/Astronomer).

He worked with [Count Aymar de la Baume Pluvinel](/source/Count_Aymar_de_la_Baume_Pluvinel) observing [Mars](/source/Mars) from the newly built [observatory](/source/Observatory) on [Pic du Midi](/source/Pic_du_Midi_de_Bigorre) in 1909. The resulting photographs, taken with the 0.5 metre (20 inch) reflecting [Baillaud](/source/Benjamin_Baillaud) telescope, were so sharp that they were able to disprove [Percival Lowell](/source/Percival_Lowell)'s claim of geometrical canals on the planet's surface.

Baldet was the president of the [Société astronomique de France (SAF)](/source/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_astronomique_de_France), the French astronomical society, from 1939 to 1945.[1] In 1946, Baldet and Charles Maurain jointly received the [Prix Jules Janssen](/source/Prix_Jules_Janssen), the society's highest award.

The [crater](/source/Impact_crater) [Baldet](/source/Baldet_(lunar_crater)) on the [Moon](/source/Moon) and the crater [Baldet](/source/Baldet_(Martian_crater)) on Mars were named in his honour.[2]

Baldet was French pioneer of color photography working in [Autochrome Lumière](/source/Autochrome_Lumi%C3%A8re), [Kodachrome](/source/Kodachrome) and [Agfacolor](/source/Agfacolor) before the Second World War.[3]

## References

1. ["Allocution de M. F. Baldet"](http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9629139t/f319.image.r=Fernand%20Baldet?rk=21459;2) (in French). *L'Astronomie*. Société astronomique de France. January 1939.

1. de Vaucouleurs, G. et al. (September 1975). "The new Martian nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union". *Icarus*. **26** (1): 85–98. [Bibcode:1975Icar...26...85D](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975Icar...26...85D). [doi:10.1016/0019-1035(75)90146-3](https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(75)90146-3)

1. Fernand Baldet [http://www.baldet.fr](http://www.baldet.fr)

## External links

- [History of the *Baillaud telescope* used by Baldet in 1909](https://web.archive.org/web/20040824120246/http://webast.ast.obs-mip.fr/patrimoine/bail_e.html)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Fernand Baldet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Baldet) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Baldet?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.