Evry Leon Schatzman

TL;DR

This paper reviews the life and scientific contributions of Evry Schatzman, highlighting his pioneering work in stellar astrophysics, solar physics, and his role in developing French theoretical astrophysics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of Schatzman's pioneering research and his influence on the development of astrophysics in France.

Findings

Schatzman was a pioneer in white dwarf research.

He contributed to the wave heating theory of the solar corona.

He founded the French school of theoretical astrophysics.

Abstract

This article describes the life and work of French astrophysicist Evry Schatzman (1920-2010). He was a pioneer in the study of white dwarfs during the 1940s and was one of the proponents of the wave heating theory of the solar corona. He made important contributions to the fields of internal stellar structure, novae, mechanisms of acceleration of cosmic rays, the role of turbulent diffusion in stellar evolution and its consequences for the lithium abundance, and the rate of solar neutrinos. Schatzman is mostly recognized as the creator of the French school of theoretical astrophysics. Although he was not the first theoretician of astrophysics in his country, he was the first to have felt the need for a rapid development of this subject in France, and the first to teach it and to guide the path of many young researchers. Many of them became involved, and some leaders, in space science.