Jean-François Denisse

Jean-François Denisse (1915–2014) was a French astronomer and one of the leading pioneers of radio astronomy in France. His thesis, supervised by Yves Rocard, dealt with solar activity involving the propagation of waves in plasmas. From 1951 to 1953 as an intermittent visiting scientist at Dakar's École des Hautes Études (now part of Cheikh Anta Diop University), Denisse led members of his group as they made African solar observations, particularly during partial eclipses. Denisse was from 1955 to 1961 the president of the IAU Commission 40 for Radio Astronomy. He supervised the creation of the Paris Observatory's Station de Radioastronomie de Nançay. The station's first large instrument, a solar internee rometer, was completed in 1956. Denisse directed the construction of the station's large radio telescope, which was completed in 1967. This radio telescope, one of the world's largest, is still in operation.

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