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Astronomers
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1755, May 161809-18131830, Nov 20/1835, Nov 26
a French astronomer. He discovered the "Great Comet of 1811" (C/1811 F1), and independently co-discovered the "Great Comet of 1807" (C/1807 R1). In attempting to measure the rotation period of Mars, he noted inconsistencies in timing of yellow-colored features and concluded he was seeing atmospheric features rather than surface features. Therefore, some credit him with the discovery of dust clouds on Mars, however this is in dispute since his telescope was probably too small to accomplish this. In addition to astronomy, he was active in medicine and archaeology, studying the maladies suffered by workers in the wool industry and organizing archaeological excavation at Alba-la-Romaine. A crater on Mars is named after him.
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Honore Flaugergues1755, May 161809
 
18131830, Nov 20/1835, Nov 26

Jean-Dominique Cassini1748 Jun 301768
 
18101845, Oct 18
 a French astronomer, he succeeded his father as director of the observatory. He published in 177...
Eise Eisinga1744, Feb 211761
 
18111828, Aug 27
 a Frisian amateur astronomer who built the Eise Eisinga Planetarium in his house in Franeker, Fri...
Iwahashi Zenbei17561790
 
18111811
 a Japanese scientist and optician. Zenbei researched some imported optical instruments, then in 1...
Andrew Ellicott [2]1754, Jan 241772
 
18171820, Aug 28
 a U.S. surveyor who helped map many of the territories west of the Appalachians, surveyed the bou...
William Herschel1738, Nov 151774
 
18201822, Aug 25
 a German-born British astronomer, composer, and brother of Caroline Herschel. His interest in ast...
Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre1749, Sep 191788
 
18221822, Aug 19
 a French mathematician and astronomer. He was also director of the Paris Observatory, and author ...
Johann Elert Bode1747, Jan 191766
 
18251826, Nov 23
 a German astronomer known for his reformulation and popularization of the Titius–Bode law. Bode...
Joseph von Fraunhofer1787, Mar 61801
 
18261826, Jun 7
 a German optician, known for discovering the dark absorption lines known as Fraunhofer lines in t...
Pierre-Simon Laplace1749, Mar 231771
 
18271827, Mar 5
 an influential French scholar whose work was important to the development of mathematics, statist...
Heinrich Wilhelm Matthaus Olbers1758, Oct 111779
 
18271840, Mar 2
 a German physician and astronomer. Olbers discovered and named the asteroid Pallas. Five years l...
Franz Xaver von Zach1754, Jun 41780
 
18271832, Sep 2
 a Hungarian astronomer born in Pest, Hungary. Zach published Tables of the Sun (Gotha, 179...
Karl Ludwig Harding1765, Sep 291796
 
18341834, Aug 31
 a German astronomer notable for having discovered the asteroid 3 Juno. In addition to Juno, he di...
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel1784, Jul 221804
 
18421846, Mar 17
 a German astronomer, mathematician, physicist and geodesist. He was the first astronomer who dete...
Alexis Bouvard1767, Jun 271793
 
18431843, Jun 7
 a French astronomer. He is particularly noted for his careful observations of the irregularities ...
Francis Baily1774, Apr 281799
 
18431844, Aug 30
 an English astronomer. He is most famous for his observations of 'Baily's beads' during an eclips...
Caroline Herschel1750 Mar 161772
 
18461848, Jan 9
 a German British astronomer and the sister of astronomer Sir William Herschel with whom she worke...
Karl Ludwig Hencke1793, Apr 81807
 
18471866, Sep 21
 a German amateur astronomer. He discovered two asteroids from his private observatory at #9, Kiet...
James Dunlop1793, Oct 311810
 
18471848, Sep 22
 a Scottish astronomer, noted for his work in Australia. He served as astronomer's assistant at a ...
Wilhelm Freiherr von Biela1782, Mar 191802
 
18491856, Feb 18
 a German-Austrian military officer and amateur astronomer. In the field of astronomy, he speciali...
William Cranch Bond1789, Sep 91806
 
18501859, Jan 29
 an American astronomer, and the first director of Harvard College Observatory. When he built his ...
Francois Arago1786, Feb 261804
 
18521853, Oct 2
 a French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, freemason, supporter of the carbonari and politici...
Carl Friedrich Gauss1777, Apr 301798
 
18541855, Feb 23
 a German mathematician who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, alg...
Giuseppe Asclepi17061760
 
1861776
 an Italian astronomer and physician. He was a Jesuit and director of the observatory at the Colle...
Christopher Hansteen1784, Sep 261806
 
18611873, Apr 11
 a Norwegian geophysicist, astronomer and physicist, best known for his mapping of Earth's magneti...
David Rittenhouse1732, Apr 81750
 
1871796, Jun 26
 a renowned American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrum...
Mary Fairfax Somerville1780, Dec 261811
 
18721872, Nov 29
 a Scottish science writer and polymath, at a time when women's participation in science was disco...
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