MASCART

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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20.2.1837 Quarouble/F - 26.8.1908 Poissy/F

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Elie Mascart received his education including the PhD title from Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. In 1864 he moved to Metz as a physics professor at a Lyceum, returned two years later to the capital and was appointed in 1872 physics professor at Institut de France. From 1878 to 1907 he directed the Central Office for Meteorology. This office was first located in the city and then transferred to the Eiffel tower. Mascart was the editor of Annales du Bureau Central de Météorologie which started in 1878. He was a founding member of the first international commission on scientific aviation in 1897, following the first flights of Clément Ader (1841-1926) and Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896).

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Mascart is known for his contributions to meteorology. From a long time, one presumes that weather forecast should be possible with statistical methods, and thus aid to almost all branches of professional life. Mascart, first as a professor and then in addition as the director of the French meteorological institution attempted to advance that question by using weather data from all over his country. A first success appeared in the 1881 book. Later he published works on the theory of cyclone formation and on the atmosphere. Mascart's other research topics included magnetism, electricity, mechanics and optics. He was elected to the Académie des Sciences in 1884, there served as the permanent secretary and was its president in 1904. Mascart was from 1878 also involved in the Universal Expositions. Mascart was a Grand-Officer of Légion d'Honneur and passed away after a long illness. He may be considered a founder of statistical meteorology.

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_{Anonymous (1894). M. Mascart. Le Monde Illustré (1): 384. P}

_{Anonymous (1908). E. Mascart. Revue d'Electricité 30: 346-347. P}

_{Anonymous (1908). M. Mascart. L'Illustration 132: 167. P}

_{Havelange, I., Huguet, F., Lebedeff, B. (1986). Mascart. Les inspecteurs généraux de l'instruction publique: 497-499. CNRS: Paris.}

_{Mascart, E. (1881). La météorologie appliquée à la prévision du temps. Paris.}

_{Mascart, E. (1889). Expériments de Weyher sur les tourbillons, trombes, tempêtes et sphères tournantes. Journal de Physique 8: 557.}

_{Poggendorff, J.C. (1898). Mascart, Eleuthère-Elie-Nicolas. Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch 3: 879-880; 4: 968-969; 5: 814. Barth: Leipzig, with bibliography.}

_{Ramunni, G., Savio, M. (1995). Mascart. 1894-1994 Cent ans d'histoire de l'Ecole Supérieure d'Electricité: Frontispiece. Saxifrage: Paris.}