François Gonnessiat

François Gonnessiat (May 22, 1856 (Nurieux-Volognat)–October 18, 1934) was a French astronomer, observer of comets and discoverer of two minor planets.

In 1889 he won the Lalande Prize for astronomy from the French Academy of Sciences; 1901 became director of the Quito (Ecuador) Observatory for the purpose of making geodetic measurements.

He became a well known and respected member of the academic scene of the city, where a street is named after him.

From 1908 to 1931, he was director of the Algiers Observatory where one of his colleagues was Benjamin Jekhovsky.

[2] The asteroid 1177 Gonnessia was named in his memory (H 109).