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Astronomers • Writers born active died
1786, Feb 26 1804-1852 1853, Oct 2
a French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, freemason, supporter of the carbonari and politician. In 1818 or 1819 he proceeded along with Biot to execute geodetic operations on the coasts of France, England and Scotland. They measured the length of the seconds-pendulum at Leith, Scotland, and in the Shetland Islands, the results of the observations being published in 1821, along with those made in Spain.
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Astronomers
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Sort Name Nationality Born Active Died Selected 61
Francois Arago 1786, Feb 26 1804
1852 1853, Oct 2
Jean-Dominique Cassini 1748 Jun 30 1768 1810 1845, Oct 18 a French astronomer, he succeeded his father as director of the observatory. He published in 177... Eise Eisinga 1744, Feb 21 1761 1811 1828, Aug 27 a Frisian amateur astronomer who built the Eise Eisinga Planetarium in his house in Franeker, Fri... Iwahashi Zenbei 1756 1790 1811 1811 a Japanese scientist and optician. Zenbei researched some imported optical instruments, then in 1... Honore Flaugergues 1755, May 16 1809 1813 1830, Nov 20/1835, Nov 26 a French astronomer. He discovered the "Great Comet of 1811" (C/1811 F1), and independently co-di... Andrew Ellicott [2] 1754, Jan 24 1772 1817 1820, Aug 28 a U.S. surveyor who helped map many of the territories west of the Appalachians, surveyed the bou... William Herschel 1738, Nov 15 1774 1820 1822, Aug 25 a German-born British astronomer, composer, and brother of Caroline Herschel. His interest in ast... Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre 1749, Sep 19 1788 1822 1822, Aug 19 a French mathematician and astronomer. He was also director of the Paris Observatory, and author ... Johann Elert Bode 1747, Jan 19 1766 1825 1826, Nov 23 a German astronomer known for his reformulation and popularization of the Titius–Bode law. Bode... Joseph von Fraunhofer 1787, Mar 6 1801 1826 1826, Jun 7 a German optician, known for discovering the dark absorption lines known as Fraunhofer lines in t... Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749, Mar 23 1771 1827 1827, Mar 5 an influential French scholar whose work was important to the development of mathematics, statist... Heinrich Wilhelm Matthaus Olbers 1758, Oct 11 1779 1827 1840, Mar 2 a German physician and astronomer. Olbers discovered and named the asteroid Pallas. Five years l... Franz Xaver von Zach 1754, Jun 4 1780 1827 1832, Sep 2 a Hungarian astronomer born in Pest, Hungary. Zach published Tables of the Sun (Gotha, 179... Fearon Fallows 1788, Jul 4 1816 1830 1831, Jul 25 an English astronomer to King George IV. Between 1821 and 1829 he worked to site, plan and develo... Karl Ludwig Harding 1765, Sep 29 1796 1834 1834, Aug 31 a German astronomer notable for having discovered the asteroid 3 Juno. In addition to Juno, he di... Thomas John Hussey 1792, Apr 4 1835 1838 1854 ca an English clergyman and astronomer. In his clerical capacity he published several sermons, but h... Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel 1784, Jul 22 1804 1842 1846, Mar 17 a German astronomer, mathematician, physicist and geodesist. He was the first astronomer who dete... Alexis Bouvard 1767, Jun 27 1793 1843 1843, Jun 7 a French astronomer. He is particularly noted for his careful observations of the irregularities ... Francis Baily 1774, Apr 28 1799 1843 1844, Aug 30 an English astronomer. He is most famous for his observations of 'Baily's beads' during an eclips... Thomas Henderson 1798, Dec 28 1832 1844 1844, Nov 23 a Scottish astronomer and mathematician noted for being the first person to measure the distance ... Caroline Herschel 1750 Mar 16 1772 1846 1848, Jan 9 a German British astronomer and the sister of astronomer Sir William Herschel with whom she worke... Karl Ludwig Hencke 1793, Apr 8 1807 1847 1866, Sep 21 a German amateur astronomer. He discovered two asteroids from his private observatory at #9, Kiet... James Dunlop 1793, Oct 31 1810 1847 1848, Sep 22 a Scottish astronomer, noted for his work in Australia. He served as astronomer's assistant at a ... Wilhelm Freiherr von Biela 1782, Mar 19 1802 1849 1856, Feb 18 a German-Austrian military officer and amateur astronomer. In the field of astronomy, he speciali... Wilhelm Beer 1797, Jan 4 1830 1849 1850, Mar 27 a banker and astronomer from Berlin, Prussia, and the half-brother of Giacomo Meyerbeer. In 1830,... William Cranch Bond 1789, Sep 9 1806 1850 1859, Jan 29 an American astronomer, and the first director of Harvard College Observatory. When he built his ... Carl Friedrich Gauss 1777, Apr 30 1798 1854 1855, Feb 23 a German mathematician who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, alg... August Ferdinand Mobius 1790, Nov 17 1816 1858 1868, Sep 26 a German mathematician and theoretical astronomer. He is best known for his discovery of the Möb... A. Laurent unknown 1850 1859 unknown a French amateur astronomer who discovered the asteroid 51 Nemausa in 1858, for which he was a re... Giuseppe Asclepi 1706 1760 186 1776 an Italian astronomer and physician. He was a Jesuit and director of the observatory at the Colle... James Ferguson [4] 1797, Aug 31 1847 1860 1867, Sep 26 an American astronomer and engineer (he helped build the Erie canal) born in Scotland who made th... Christopher Hansteen 1784, Sep 26 1806 1861 1873, Apr 11 a Norwegian geophysicist, astronomer and physicist, best known for his mapping of Earth's magneti... Hermann Goldschmidt 1802, Jun 17 1820 1862 1866, Apr 26 a German-French astronomer and painter who spent much of his life in France. He started out as a ... Johann Franz Encke 1791, Sep 23 1816 1863 1865, Aug 26 a German astronomer. Among his activities, he worked on the calculation of the periods of comets ... Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander 1799, Mar 22 1823 1863 1875, Feb 17 a German astronomer. He is known for his determinations of stellar brightnesses, positions, and d... Heinrich d'Arrest 1822, Aug 13 1846 1864 1875, Jun 14 a German astronomer, born in Berlin, involved in the search for Neptune, discovered a comet, and ... William Rutter Dawes 1799, Mar 19 1849 1864 1868, Feb 15 an English astronomer who made extensive measurements of double stars as well as observations of ... George Phillips Bond 1825, May 20 1850 1865 1865, Feb 17 an American astronomer. He was the son of William Cranch Bond. Some sources give his year of birt... John Herschel 1792, Mar 7 1816 1867 1871, May 11 an English polymath, mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer, and... David Rittenhouse 1732, Apr 8 1750 187 1796, Jun 26 a renowned American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrum... James Challis 1803, Dec 12 1825 1870 1882, Dec 3 an English clergyman, physicist and astronomer. Plumian Professor and director of the Cambridge O... Theodor Brorsen 1819, Jul 29 1844 1870 1895, Mar 31 a Danish astronomer. He is best known for his discovery of five comets, including the lost period... Sir Edward Sabine 1788, Oct 14 1818 1871 1883, Jun 26 an Irish astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist, explorer, soldier and the 30th President of the... Mary Fairfax Somerville 1780, Dec 26 1811 1872 1872, Nov 29 a Scottish science writer and polymath, at a time when women's participation in science was disco... Anders Jonas Angstrom 1814, Aug 13 1839 1873 1874, Jun 21 a Swedish physicist and one of the founders of the science of spectroscopy. Intrigued by terrestr... Richard Christopher Carrington 1826, May 26 1848 1873 1875, Nov 27 an English amateur astronomer whose 1859 astronomical observations demonstrated the existence of ... Peter Andreas Hansen 1795, Dec 8 1820 1874 1874, Mar 28 a danish astronomer. In 1838 he published a revision of the lunar theory, entitled Fundamenta nov... Wilhelm Tempel 1821, Dec 4 1850 1880 1889, Mar 16 a German astronomer who worked in Marseille until the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870... George B. Airy 1801, Jul 27 1822 1881 1892, Jan 21 an English mathematician and astronomer, Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievement... Thomas William Webb 1807, Dec 14 1829 1885 1885, May 19 a British astronomer. Through his career T. W. Webb served as a clergyman at various places inclu... Benjamin Apthorp Gould 1824, Sep 27 1844 1885 1896, Nov 26 a pioneering American astronomer. He is noted for creating the Astronomical Journal, discovering ... Alvan Clark 1804, Mar 8 1830 1887 1887, Aug 19 an American astronomer and telescope maker. He was a portrait painter and engraver (c.1830s-1850s... Ernest Mouchez 1821, Aug 24 1843 1887 1892, Jun 29 a French naval officer who became director of the Paris Observatory and launched the ill-fated Ca... John Couch Adams 1819, Jun 5 1835 1888 1892, Jan 21 a British mathematician and astronomer. His most famous achievement was predicting the existence ... Maria Mitchell 1818, Aug 1 1835 1888 1889, Jun 28 an American astronomer who, in 1847, by using a telescope, discovered a comet which as a result b... Annibale de Gasparis 1819, Nov 9 1849 1889 1892, Mar 21 an Italian astronomer who discovered nine asteroids. He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomi... Daniel Kirkwood 1814, Sep 27 1839 1895 1895, Jun 11 an American astronomer. Kirkwood was born in Harford County, Maryland to John and Agnes (née Hop... John Russell Hind 1823, May 12 1840 1895 1895, Dec 23 an English astronomer. Hind is notable for being one of the early discoverers of asteroids. He al... Herve Faye 1814, Oct 1 1834 1897 1902, Jul 4 a French astronomer, who studied comets, discovering several. His work covered the entire field o... Johann Gottfried Galle 1812, Jun 9 1835 1897 1910, Jul 10 a German astronomer from Radis, Germany, at the Berlin Observatory who was the first person to vi... Lewis A. Swift 1820, Feb 29 1843 1899 1913, Jan 5 an American astronomer. He discovered or co-discovered a number of comets. In 1878 he believed he... Andrew Graham 1815, Apr 8 1848 1903 1907, Nov 5 an Irish astronomer/computer. He discovered the asteroid 9 Metis in 1848 whilst employed at Markr...
