C. Janssen, a spectroscopic method for observing the solar prominences in daylight, and the names of both astronomers appear on a medal which was struck by the French government in 1872 to commemorate the discovery.
The purity of the compounds thus obtained is checked by spectroscopic observations.
He initiated in 1866 the spectroscopic observation of sunspots; applied Doppler's principle in 1869 to determine the radial velocities of the chromospheric gases; and successfully investigated the chemistry of the sun from 1872 onward.
In 1894 he was associated with Lord Rayleigh in the discovery of argon, announced at that year's meeting of the British Association in Oxford, and in the following year he found in certain rare minerals such as cleveite the gas helium which till that time had only been known on spectroscopic evidence as existing in the sun.
In 1861, while conducting a spectroscopic examination of the residue left in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, he observed a bright green line which had not been noticed previously, and by following up the indication thus given he succeeded in isolating a new element, thallium, a specimen of which was shown in public for the first time at the exhibition of 1862.