Jean has long been recognized as a leading authority on the calculation of all kinds of astronomical phenomena, including occultations. His books are classics, especially "Astronomical Formulae for Calculators" and "Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon, and Planets". The occultation section of the latter is comprehensive, not only providing extensive tables of the most important lunar occultations well into the future, but also clearly explaining the formulae for calculating the phenomena. 

     He developed a method of calculating the paths of grazing occultations directly at equal intervals of longitude, necessary in most of the history of grazing occultations.  He was the first person ever to observe a grazing occultation (predicted by himself) of lambda Geminorum from his observatory in Erps Kwerps, Belgium, on November 20, 1959 when he recorded 3 disappearances and reappearances of the star using a tape recorder.

     Jean has also predicted occultations of bright stars by major planets, such as the 1976 occultation of epsilon Geminorum by Mars.  Successfully observed by the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, it was the first ever observation of a central flash due to atmospheric lensing, a technique which was then used to study the atmosphere of Pluto. 

     For these and many other contributions, IOTA is pleased to present the 2016 David E. Laird award to Jean Meeus.