The famous astronomer Jules Janssen (1824-1907), president of the SAF between 1895 and 1897 and founder of the Meudon Observatory, attached to the Paris Observatory in 1926, created a number of prizes, the best known of which - since 1897 - has been awarded annually by the Astronomical Society of France.

This prize is awarded alternately to a French and a foreign astronomer for the international value of their scientific work, and for their contribution to the widespread dissemination of the sciences of the Universe.

In 1984, Bruno Sicardy co-discovered Neptune’s rings during an occultation observed simultaneously from the La Silla Observatory (ESO) by the team of Frenchman André Brahic from Paris Observatory, and from the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory by the team of American professor William Hubbard.

Bruno Sicardy then devoted most of his work to observing and studying the dynamics of planetary rings and atmospheres, as well as the dynamics of protoplanetary disks.

Bruno Sicardy defended his thesis, entitled "Observational, analytical and numerical study of planetary environments : applications to the rings of Saturn and Uranus and the arcs of Neptune", at the Université Paris VII, in 1988, under the supervision of André Brahic.

The asteroid (6280) Sicardy was named in his honor. Bruno Sicardy was awarded the 2019 Paul Doisteau-Emile Blutet prize from the Académie des Sciences, during a ceremony held under the dome of the Institut de France, on October 15, 2019.

The medal will be presented by Professor Sylvain Bouley, President of the Société Astronomique de France, on Wednesday April 10, 2024. The ceremony will take place at the CNAM, starting at 7pm, during which Bruno Sicardy will give the lecture : "Stellar occultations : from serendipity to physics".

292, rue Saint-Martin - 75003 Paris,

Amphi Abbé Grégoire,

Free admission and compulsory registration.

Source : SAF press release : https://saf-astronomie.fr/bruno-sicardy-se-voit-decerner-le-prix-jules-janssen-2023/)