Henri Chrétien

Henri Jacques Chrétien (1 February 1879, Paris – 6 February 1956, Washington, D.C.) was a French astronomer and an inventor.

Born in Paris, France, his most famous inventions are:
- the anamorphic widescreen process, using an anamorphic lens system called Hypergonar, that resulted in the CinemaScope widescreen technique, and
- the co-invention of the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope (with George Willis Ritchey), which was an advanced type of astronomical telescope, now used in virtually all research telescopes.

He spent part of his early astronomical career at the Nice Observatory, which was close to his house, the Villa Paradou. The Villa was built by famous French architect Charles Garnier who also built the Opera of Paris. In 1995 the abandoned villa was acquired by the artist Rainer Maria Latzke, who restored the villa and added new modern murals to the already existing frescoes.

He was one of the founders of the Institut d'optique théorique et appliquée and professor at the French "grande école" SupOptique (École supérieure d'optique).

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