- Henri Chrétien
Henri Jacques Chrétien (
February 1 ,1879 ,Paris –February 6 ,1956 ,Washington [Lance Day & Ian McNeil, eds., "Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology", 1995] ) was a French astronomer and an inventor.Born in
Paris ,France , his most famous invention is theanamorphic widescreen process, that resulted inCinemaScope , and the co-invention (withGeorge Willis Ritchey ) of the Ritchey-Chrétien type ofastronomical telescope .He spent part of his early astronomical career at the
Nice Observatory .He was one of the founders of the "Institut d'optique théorique et appliquée" and professor at the French "grande école" SupOptique (
École supérieure d'optique ).Awards and honors
The astronomical "
Chrétien International Research Grants " awards are in honor of him. The Chrétien crater on theMoon is named in his honor. In 1954, he received anAcademy Award for his work on the CinemaScope process.References
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