Henri Alexandre Deslandres, 1853-1948

Abstract

Henri Alexandre Deslandres was born in Paris on 24 July 1853. Destined for an Army career he was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique from 1872 to 1874. He secured rapid promotion and in 1879 he became Captain in the Engineers and qualified for staff appointments. But a scientific career had begun to appeal to him so strongly that in 1881 he retired from the Army and devoted himself to scientific research. Attached to the physics laboratory of the Ecole Polytechnique from 1883 to 1887 he published his first paper in 1885 on Relations entre le spectre ultra-violet de la vapeur d’eau et les bandes telluriques A, B, α du spectre solaire . In 1887 he joined M. Lippmann in the physics laboratory of the Faculty of Sciences of the Sorbonne. He obtained the degree of Doctor of Science in 1888 with a thesis on band spectra.