The American astronomer and astronomical photographer Edward Emerson Barnard (1857-1923) received the Lalande Medal from the French Academy of Sciences for his discovery of the fifth satellite of Jupiter.

Edward Barnard was born on Dec. 16, 1857, in Nashville, Tenn. His early education came mostly from his mother; he was employed at the age of nine in the studio of a Nashville photographer, where he remained for 16 years. His training in photographic processes and his knowledge of lenses were later of great value in his pioneer work in astronomical photography.

Barnard's interest in astronomy dated from 1876, when he read a stray copy of a popular book on astronomy and constructed his first telescope with a one-inch lens from a broken spyglass. Meeting Simon Newcomb the following year persuaded him that to do work in astronomy he must be well grounded in mathematics, so he worked in his spare time to...