Antonín Bečvář

Antonín Bečvář IPA2|ˈantoɲi:n ˈbɛtʃva:r̝̊ (June 10 1901 – January 10 1965) was a Czech astronomer who was active in Slovakia. He was born (and died) in Stará Boleslav. Among his chief achievements is the foundation of the Skalnaté Pleso Observatory and the discovery of the comet C/1947 F2 (Bečvář) (also known by the designations 1947 III and 1947c).

Bečvář is particularly important for his star charts: he led the compilation of the "Atlas Coeli Skalnate Pleso" (1951), published by Sky Publishing Corporation as the "Skalnate Pleso Atlas of the Heavens", which was the state-of-the-art atlas of its kind until Wil Tirion's "Sky Atlas 2000.0" in 1981. He also compiled "Atlas eclipticalis, 1950.0" (1958), "Atlas borealis 1950.0" (1962), and "Atlas australis 1950.0" (1964).

The asteroid 4567 Bečvář and the Bečvář crater on the Moon were named in his honour. American Avant-garde composer John Cage used Bečvář's star charts as the basis of several works: "Atlas Eclipticalis" (1961–62), "Etudes Australes" (1974–75), "Etudes Boreales" (1978) and "Freeman Etudes" (1977–80, 1989–90).

External links

* [http://www.ta3.sk/public_relation/becvar/atlasy.html Becvar's sky atlases]