astronomy

Odette Bancilhon

Odette Bancilhon is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Odette Bancilhon rather than just read about it. In short: Odette Bancilhon (22 September 1908 – 1998) was a French astronomer. She is best known for her work during the 1930s and 1940s at the Algiers Observatory, in Algeria, North Africa, where she discovered 1333 Cevenola, a stony Eunomian asteroid from the main-belt.

Key takeaways

Odette Bancilhon belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Odette Bancilhon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Odette Bancilhon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Odette Bancilhon (22 September 1908 – 1998) was a French astronomer. She is best known for her work during the 1930s and 1940s at the Algiers Observatory, in Algeria, North Africa, where she discovered 1333 Cevenola, a stony Eunomian asteroid from the main-belt.

Life and work Bancilhon was a graduate in science and she served as a meteorological assistant in Algiers for one year beginning 1 December 1932. On 7 December 1933, she was appointed as Alfred Schmitt's replacement while he performed his military service. In that capacity, in 1934, she discovered the asteroid (1333) Cevenola. (All of her publications at that time were signed O. Bancilhon, a practice of her profession.) She was named an assistant on 1 November 1937. She married her colleague Alfred Schmitt in Algiers on 12 September 1942, and became known professionally as O. Schmitt-Bancilhon. She and her husband were transferred to the Strasbourg Observatory in France on 1 January 1950, and she worked there as an assistant for several years. The couple then moved to the Quito Observatory in Ecuador from 2 October 1956 to 10 April 1958. She was an assistant there while her husband served as observatory director. She retired on 1 July 1964. The main-belt asteroid 1713 Bancilhon (measuring 5.716 kilometers in diameter) was named in her honor. It was discovered on 27 September 1951 by Louis Boyer, her former colleague at the Algiers Observatory.

Selected publications Schmitt, A., and O. Schmitt-Bancilhon. "Positions of Comets obtained visually at the Equatorial Coudé of the Algiers Observatory." Observer Journal 31 (1948): 164.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Odette Bancilhon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Odette Bancilhon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Odette Bancilhon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Odette Bancilhon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Odette Bancilhon

In research: Odette Bancilhon appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Odette Bancilhon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Odette Bancilhon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1908 births, 1998 deaths, 20th-century French astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Odette Bancilhon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Odette Bancilhon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Odette Bancilhon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Odette Bancilhon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Odette Bancilhon in simple terms?

Why does Odette Bancilhon matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Odette Bancilhon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Odette Bancilhon.