René Racine

René Racine
René Racine wearing the Order of Canada's lapel pin.
Born1939 (age 85–86)
Quebec City, Quebec
Occupation(s)Professor, Astronomer

René Racine MSRC OQ (born 1939) is a French-Canadian professor and astronomer who specializes in the study of globular clusters.[1]

Biography

Racine was born in Quebec City. He obtained a bachelor's degree in physics from Laval University in 1963, and master's and doctoral degrees (Ph.D in astronomy) in 1965 and in 1967, respectively, from the University of Toronto. He received a research scholarship at the Carnegie Institute.

Between 1967 and 1969, he was a Carnegie Fellow at the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories near Pasadena, California in the United States. He operated the Mt. Mégantic Observatory from 1976–1980, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope from 1980–1984, and then returning to Mt. Mégantic Observatory from 1984–1997.[2]

In 1994 Racine and colleagues recalibrated the value of the Hubble constant, which helps to measure extragalactic distances, and the size and the age of the Universe.

On 10 February 2000, Denis Bergeron, in Val-des-Bois, was the first to discover an asteroid from Quebec. The asteroid, 45580 Renéracine, was named in honor of Racine.[2]

Racine was made a member of the Order of Canada in 199. In 2009, Racine resigned from the Order to protest Henry Morgentaler's appointment. Racine remained in the Ordre National du Québec.[3]

Accolades

References

  1. ^ "René Racine | Astronomers". January 2016.
  2. ^ a b "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". NASA. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  3. ^ Office of the Governor General of Canada (1 June 2009), Media > News Releases and Messages > Resignations from the Order of Canada, Queen's Printer for Canada, retrieved 1 June 2009
  4. ^ "René Racine – Ordre national du Québec".
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