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LALANDE, JOSEPH JEROME LEFRANCAIS DE ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 95 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LALANDE, See also:JOSEPH See also:JEROME LEFRANCAIS DE (1732-1807) , See also:French astronomer, was See also:born at Bourg (See also:department of See also:Ain), on the 11th of See also:July 1732. His parents sent him to See also:Paris to study See also:law; but the See also:accident of lodging in the Hotel See also:Cluny, where J. N. See also:Delisle had his See also:observatory, See also:drew him to See also:astronomy, and he became the zealous and favoured See also:pupil of both Delisle and See also:Pierre See also:Lemonnier. He, however, completed his legal studies, and was about to return to Bourg to practise there as an See also:advocate, when Lemonnier obtained permission to send him to See also:Berlin, to make observations on the lunar See also:parallax in See also:concert with those of N. L. See also:Lacaille at the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope. The successful See also:execution of his task procured for him, before he was twenty-one, See also:admission to the See also:Academy of Berlin, and the See also:post of See also:adjunct astronomer to that of Paris. He now devoted himself to the improvement of the planetary theory, See also:publishing in 1759 a corrected edition of See also:Halley's tables, with a See also:history of the celebrated See also:comet whose return in that See also:year he had aided See also:Clairault to calculate. In 1762 J. N. Delisle resigned in his favour the See also:chair of astronomy in the See also:College de See also:France, the duties of which were discharged by Lalande for See also:forty-six years.

His See also:

house became an astronomical See also:seminary, and amongst his pupils were J. B. J. See also:Delambre, G. Piazzi, P. Mechain, and his own See also:nephew See also:Michel Lalande. By his publications in connexion with the transit of 1769 he won See also:great and, in a measure, deserved fame. But his love of notoriety and impetuous See also:temper compromised the respect due to his scientific zeal, though these faults were partially balanced by his generosity and benevolence. He died on the 4th of See also:April 1807. Although his investigations were conducted with See also:diligence rather than See also:genius, the career of Lalande must be regarded as of eminent service to astronomy. As a lecturer and writer he gave to the See also:science unexampled popularity; his planetary tables, into which he introduced corrections for mutual perturbations, were the best available up to the end of the 18th See also:century; and the Lalande See also:prize, instituted by him in 1802 for the See also:chief astronomical performance of each year, still testifies to his See also:enthusiasm for his favourite pursuit. Amongst his voluminous See also:works are Traile d'astronomie (2 vols., 1764; enlarged edition, 4 vols., 1771–1781; 3rd ed., 3 vols., 1792) ; Histoire See also:celeste francaise (18o1), giving the places of 50,000 stars; Bibliographie astronomique (1803), with a history of astronomy from 1781 to 1802 ; Astronomie See also:des dames (1785) ; Abrege de See also:navigation (1793) ; Voyage d'un See also:francois en Italie (1769), a valuable See also:record of his travels in 1765–1766.

He communicated above one See also:

hundred and fifty papers to the Paris Academy of Sciences, edited the Connoissance des temps (1759–1774), and again (1794–1807), and wrote the concluding 2 vols. of the 2nd edition of See also:Montucla's Histoire des mathematiques (1802). See Rlemoires de l'Institut, t. viii. (1807) (J. B. J. Delambre) ; Delambre, Hist. de l' astr. an X VIII' siecle, p.547; Magazin encyclopidique, ii. 288 (181o) (Mme de Salm) ; J. S. See also:Bailly, Hist. de l' astr. moderne, t. iii. (ed. 1785) ; J. Madler, Geschichte der Himmelskunde, ii.

141; R. See also:

Wolf, Gesch. der Astronomie; J. J. Lalande, Bibl. astr. p. 428; J. C. See also:Poggendorff, Biog. Lit. Handworterbuch; M. See also:Marie, Hist. des sciences, ix. 35.

End of Article: LALANDE, JOSEPH JEROME LEFRANCAIS DE (1732-1807)

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