Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DELAMBRE, JEAN BAPTISTE JOSEPH (1749-...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 943 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

DELAMBRE, See also:JEAN See also:BAPTISTE See also:JOSEPH (1749-1822) , See also:French astronomer, was See also:born at See also:Amiens on the 19th of See also:September 1749. His See also:college course, begun at Amiens under the See also:abbe Jacques See also:Delille, was finished in See also:Paris, where he took a scholarship at the college of Plessis. Despite extreme penury, he then continued to study indefatigably See also:ancient and See also:modern See also:languages, See also:history and literature, finally turning his See also:attention to See also:mathematics and See also:astronomy. In 1771 he became See also:tutor to the son of M. d'Assy, See also:receiver-See also:general of finances; and while acting in this capacity, attended the lectures of J. J. See also:Lalande, who, struck with his remarkable acquirements, induced M. d'Assy in 1788 to install an See also:observatory for his benefit at his own See also:residence. Here Delambre observed and computed almost uninterruptedly, and in 1790 obtained for his Tables of See also:Uranus the See also:prize offered by the See also:academy of sciences, of which See also:body he was elected a member- two years later. He was admitted to the See also:Institute on its organization in 1795, and became, in 1803, perpetual secretary to its mathematical See also:section. He, moreover, belonged from 1795 to the See also:bureau of longitudes. From 1792 to 1799 he was occupied with the measurement of the arc of the See also:meridian extending from See also:Dunkirk to See also:Barcelona, and published a detailed See also:account of the operations in See also:Base du systeme metrique (3 vols., 18o6, 1807, 181o), for which he was awarded in 1810 the decennial prize of the Institute. The first See also:consul nominated him inspector-general of studies; he succeeded Lalande in 1807 as See also:professor of astronomy at the College de See also:France, and filled the See also:office of treasurer to the imperial university from 18o8 until its suppression in 1815. Delambre died at Paris on the 19th of See also:August 1822.

His last years were devoted to researches into the history of See also:

science, resulting in the successive publication of: Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne (2 vols., 1817); Histoire de l'astronomie an moyen dge (1819); Histoire de l'astronomie moderne (2 vols., 1821); and Histoire de l'astronomie an X VIII' siecle, issued in 1827 under the care of C. L. Mathieu. These books show marvellous erudition; but some of the judgments expressed in them are warped by See also:prejudice; they are diffuse in See also:style and overloaded with computations. He wrote besides: Tables ecliptiques See also:des satellites de See also:Jupiter, inserted in the third edition of J. J. Lalande's Astronomie (1792), and republished in an improved See also:form by the bureau of longitudes in 1817; Methodes analytiques pour la determination d'un arc du meridien (1799); Tables du soleil (publiees See also:par le bureau des longitudes) (1806) ; Rapport historique sur See also:les progres des sciences See also:mat hematiques depuis l' an 1789 (1810); Abrege d'astronomie (1813); Astronomie theorique et pratique (1814); &c. See J. B. J. See also:Fourier's " Eloge " in Memoires de l'acad. des sciences, t. iv.; Ch. See also:Dupin, Revue encyclopedique, t. xvi.

(1822); Biog. universelle, t. lxii. (C. L. Mathieu) ; Max. See also:

Marie, Hist. des sciences, x. 31; R. See also:Grant, Hist. of See also:Physical Astr. pp. 96, 142, 165; R . See also:Wolf, Geschichte der Astronomie, p. 779, &e. (A. M.

End of Article: DELAMBRE, JEAN BAPTISTE JOSEPH (1749-1822)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DELAGOA BAY (Port. for the bay " of the lagoon ") 		[next]
DELAMERE (or DE LA MER), GEORGE BOOTH

Site © 2006 - Net Industries