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LEMONNIER, PIERRE CHARLES (1715—1799)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 416 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LEMONNIER, See also:PIERRE See also:CHARLES (1715—1799) , See also:French astronomer, was See also:born on the 23rd of See also:November 1715 in See also:Paris, where his See also:father was See also:professor of See also:philosophy at the See also:college d'See also:Harcourt. His first recorded observation was made before he was sixteen, and the presentation of an elaborate lunar See also:map procured for him See also:admission to the See also:Academy, on the 21st of See also:April 1736, at the See also:early See also:age of twenty. He was chosen in the same See also:year to accompany P. L. See also:Maupertuis and See also:Alexis See also:Clairault on their geodetical expedition to See also:Lapland. In 1738, shortly after his return, he explained, in a memoir read before the Academy. the advantages of J. See also:Flamsteed's mode of determining right ascensions. His persistent recommendation, in fact, of See also:English methods and See also:instruments contributed effectively to the reform of French See also:practical See also:astronomy, and constituted the most eminent of his services to See also:science. He corresponded with J. See also:Bradley, was the first to represent the effects of See also:nutation the See also:solar tables, and introduced, in 1741, the use of the transit-See also:instrument at the Paris See also:observatory. He visited See also:England in 1748, and, in See also:company with the See also:earl of See also:Morton and See also:James See also:Short: the optician, continued his See also:journey to See also:Scotland, where he observed the See also:annular See also:eclipse of See also:July 25. The liberality of See also:Louis XV., in whose favour he stood high, furnished him with the means of procuring the best instruments, many of them by English makers.

Amongst the fruits of his See also:

industry may be mentioned a laborious investigation of the disturbances of See also:Jupiter by See also:Saturn, the results of which were employed and confirmed by L. See also:Euler in his See also:prize See also:essay of 1748; a See also:series of lunar observations extending over fifty years; some interesting researches in terrestrial See also:magnetism and atmospheric See also:electricity, in the latter of which he detected a See also:regular diurnal See also:period; and the determination of the places of a See also:great number of stars, including twelve See also:separate observations of See also:Uranus, between 1765 and its See also:discovery as a See also:planet. In his lectures at the college de See also:France he first publicly expounded the See also:analytical theory of See also:gravitation, and his timely patronage secured the services of J. J. See also:Lalande for astronomy. His See also:temper was irritable, and his hasty utterances exposed him to retorts which he did not readily forgive. Against Lala nde, owing to some trifling pique, he closed his doors " during an entire revolution of the See also:moon's nodes." His career was arrested by See also:paralysis See also:late in 1791, and a repetition of the stroke terminated his See also:life. He died at Heril near See also:Bayeux on the 31st of May 1799. By his See also:marriage with Mademoiselle de Cussy he See also:left three daughters, one of whom became the wife of J. L. See also:Lagrange. He was admitted in 1739 to the Royal Society, and was one of the one See also:hundred and See also:forty-four See also:original members of the See also:Institute.

He wrote Histoire See also:

celeste (1741) ; Theorie See also:des cometes (1743), a See also:translation, with additions of See also:Halley's Synopsis; Institutions astronomiques (1746), an improved translation of J. Keill's See also:text-See also:book; Nouveau zodiaque (1755); Observations de la tune, du soleil, et des etoiles fixes (1751—1775) ; Lois du magnetisme (1776—1778), &c, See J. J. Lalande, Bibl. astr., p. 819 (also in the See also:Journal des savants for 18o1); F. X. von See also:Zach, Allgemeine geog. Ephemeriden iii. 625; J. S. See also:Bailly, Hist. de l'astr. moderne, iii.; J. B. J.

Dclambre. Hirt. de l'astr. au XVIII'. siecle, p. 179; J. Marilee, eschichte der Himmelskunde, ii. 6; R. See also:

Wolf, Geschichte der Astronomic, p. 480.

End of Article: LEMONNIER, PIERRE CHARLES (1715—1799)

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