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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LEO-LOB |
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LEVERRIER, URBAIN JEAN JOSEPH (18111877) , French astronomer, was born at St L6 in Normandy on the 11th of March 1811. His father, who held a small post under government, made great efforts to send him to Paris, where a brilliant examination gained him, in 1831, admittance to the Ecole Polytechnique. The distinction of his career there was rewarded with a free choice amongst the departments of the public service open to pupils of the school. He selected the administration of tobaccos, addressing himself especially to chemical researches under the guidance of Gay-Lussac, and gave striking proof of ability in two papers on the combinations of phosphorus with hydrogen and oxygen, published in Annales de Chimie et de Physique (1835 and 1837). His astronomical vocation, like that of Kepler, came from without. The place of teacher of that science at the 1 cole Polytechnique falling vacant in 1837, it was offered to and accepted by Leverrier, who, " docile to circumstance," instantly abandoned chemistry, and directed the whole of his powers to celestial
1585. On the other hand, he made it appear all but certain that Vico's comet was the same with one seen by Philippe de Lahire in 1678. Recalled once more, by the summons of Arago, to planetary studies, he was this time invited to turn his attention to Uranus. Step by step, with sagacious and patient accuracy, he advanced to the great discovery which has immortalized his name. Carefully sifting all the known causes of disturbance, he showed that one previously unknown had to be reckoned with, and on the 23rd of September 1846 the planet Neptune was discerned by J. G. Galle (d. 191o) at Berlin, within one degree of the spot Leverrier had indicated (see NEPTUNE). This memorable achievement was greeted with an outburst of public enthusiasm. Academies vied with each other in en-rolling Leverrier among their members; the Royal Society awarded him the Copley medal; the king of Denmark sent him the order of the Dannebrog; he was named officer in the Legion of Honour, and preceptor to the comte de Paris; a chair of astronomy was created for his benefit at the Faculty of Sciences; he was appointed adjunct astronomer to the Bureau of Longitudes. Returned to the Legislative Assembly in 1849 by his native department of Manche, he voted with the anti-republicanparty, but devoted his principal attention to subjects connected with science and education. After the coup d'etat of 1851 he became a senator and inspector-general of superior instruction, sat upon the commission for the reform of the 1cole Poly-technique (1854), and, on the 3oth of January 18J4, succeeded Arago as director of the Paris observatory. His official work in the latter capacity would alone have strained the energies of an ordinary man. The institution had fallen into a state of lament-able inefficiency. Leverrier placed it on a totally new footing, freed it from the control of the Bureau of Longitudes, and raised it to its due rank among the observatories of Europe. He did not escape the common lot of reformers. His uncompromising measures
Eugene
Thiers
The discovery with which Leverrier's name is popularly identified was only an incident in his career. The elaboration of the scheme of the heavens traced out by P. S. Laplace in the Mecanique celeste was its larger aim, for the accomplishment of which forty
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Cambridge conferred upon him, in 1875, the honorary degree of LL.D. His planetary and solar tables were adopted by the Nautical Almanac, as well as by the Connaissance des temps.The Annales de l'Observatoire de Paris, the publication of which was set on foot by Leverrier, contain, in vols. i.-vi. (Memoires) (18551861) and x.-xiv. (18741877), his theories and tables of the several planets. In vol. i. will be found, besides his masterly report on the observatory, a general theory of secular inequalities, in which the development of the disturbing function was carried further than had previously been attempted. The memoirs and papers communicated by him to the Academy were summarized in Comptes rendus (18391876), and the more important published in full either separately or in the Conn. des temps and the Journal des mathematiques. That entitled Developpemens sur di4'erents points de la theorie des perturbations (1841), was translated in part xviii. of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs. For his scientific work see Professor Adams's address, Monthly Notices, xxxvi. 232, and F. Tisserand's review in Ann. de l'Obs. tom. xv. (188o) ; for a notice of his life, J. Bertrand's " Eloge historique," Mem. de l'Ac. des Sciences, tom. xli., 2m' serie (A. M. C.) End of Article: LEVERRIER, URBAIN JEAN JOSEPH (18111877) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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