Alexandre Schaumasse
Alexandre Schaumasse was a French astronomer and discoverer of comets and minor planets.
His discoveries include the periodic comet 24P/Schaumasse, and the two non-periodic comets C/1913 J1 or 1913 II, and C/1917 H1 or 1917 II. He also discovered two asteroids, 971 Alsatia and 1114 Lorraine, in 1921 and 1928, respectively.
Gaston Fayet, director of the Observatory in Nice, gave him the responsibility of the Chercheur de comètes, a 25 cm refractor offered by Germany to France after the first World War. However, it appears he never made any serious observations with this instrument due to its "abundance of aberrations", according to fellow astronomer Robert Jonckhèere. The two instruments he used most were the Grand Equatorial Coudé, and the Petit Equatorial.
He was severely wounded in 1914 while serving in the French army during World War I, and spent at least a year in hospital.
He was awarded the Valz Prize for 1917 by the French Academy of Sciences. In 1943, he was awarded the Lalande Prize.
The building that houses Chercheur de comètes, built in 1931, now bears his name. The inner main-belt asteroid 1797 Schaumasse was named in his honor.
