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See also:LEVERRIER, URBAIN See also:JEAN See also:JOSEPH (1811—1877) , See also:French astronomer, was See also:born at St L6 in See also:Normandy on the 11th of See also:March 1811. His See also:father, who held a small See also:post under See also:government, made See also:great efforts to send him to See also:Paris, where a brilliant examination gained him, in 1831, admittance to the Ecole Polytechnique. The distinction of his career there was rewarded with a See also:free choice amongst the departments of the public service open to pupils of the school. He selected the See also:administration of tobaccos, addressing himself especially to chemical researches under the guidance of See also:Gay-Lussac, and gave striking See also:- PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)
proof of ability in two papers on the combinations of See also:phosphorus with See also:hydrogen and See also:oxygen, published in Annales de Chimie et de Physique (1835 and 1837). His astronomical vocation, like that of See also:Kepler, came from without. The See also:place of teacher of that See also:science at the 1 See also:cole Polytechnique falling vacant in 1837, it was offered to and accepted by Leverrier, who, " docile to circumstance," instantly abandoned See also:chemistry, and directed the whole of his See also:powers to See also:celestial See also:mechanics. The first fruits of his labours were contained in two See also:memoirs presented to the See also:Academy, See also:September 16 and See also:October 14, 1839. Pursuing the investigations of See also:Laplace, he demonstrated with greater rigour the stability of the See also:solar See also:system, and calculated the limits withia which the eccentricities and inclinations of the planetary orbits vary. This remarkable debut excited much See also:attention, and, on the recommendation of See also:Francois See also:Arago, he took in See also:hand the theory of See also:Mercury, producing, in 1843, vastly improved tables of that See also:planet. The perturbations of the comets discovered, the one by H. A. E. A. Faye in See also:November 1843, the other by See also:Francesco de See also:Vico a See also:year later, were minutely investigated by Leverrier, with the result of disproving the supposed identity of the first with Lexell's lost See also:comet of 1770, and of the other with Tycho's of
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 See also:Lahire in 1678. Recalled once more, by the See also:summons of Arago, to planetary studies, he was this See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time invited to turn his attention to See also:Uranus. Step by step, with sagacious and patient accuracy, he advanced to the great See also: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 See also:Neptune was discerned by J. G. See also:Galle (d. 191o) at See also:Berlin, within one degree of the spot Leverrier had indicated (see NEPTUNE).
This memorable achievement was greeted with an outburst of public See also:enthusiasm. See also:Academies vied with each other in en-See also:rolling Leverrier among their members; the Royal Society awarded him the See also:Copley See also:medal; the See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king of See also:Denmark sent him the See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
order of the Dannebrog; he was named officer in the See also:Legion of See also:Honour, and See also:preceptor to the See also:comte de Paris; a See also:chair of See also:astronomy was created for his benefit at the See also:Faculty of Sciences; he was appointed See also:adjunct astronomer to the See also:Bureau of Longitudes. Returned to the Legislative See also:Assembly in 1849 by his native See also:department of See also:Manche, he voted with the See also:anti-republicanparty, but devoted his See also:principal attention to subjects connected with science and See also:education. After the coup d'etat of 1851 he became a senator and inspector-See also:general of See also:superior instruction, sat upon the See also:commission for the reform of the 1cole Poly-technique (1854), and, on the 3oth of See also:January 18J4, succeeded Arago as director of the Paris See also:observatory. His See also:official See also:work in the latter capacity would alone have strained the energies of an See also:ordinary See also:man. The institution had fallen into a See also:state of lament-able inefficiency. Leverrier placed it on a totally new footing, freed it from the See also:control of the Bureau of Longitudes, and raised it to its due See also:rank among the observatories of See also:Europe. He did not See also:- ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli
escape the See also:common See also:lot of reformers. His uncompromising See also:measures and unconciliatory manner of enforcing them raised a See also:storm only appeased by his removal on the 5th of See also:February 187o. On the See also:death of his successor See also:Charles See also:Eugene See also:Delaunay (1816—1872), he was reinstated by See also:Thiers, but with authority restricted by the supervision of a See also:council. In the midst of these disquietudes, he executed a task of gigantic proportions. This was nothing less than the See also:complete revision cf the planetary theories, followed by a laborious comparison of results with the most See also:authentic observations, and the construction of tables representing the movements thus corrected. It required all his indomitable perseverance to carry through a purpose which failing See also:health continually menaced with frustration. He had, however, the happiness of living See also:long enough to perfect his work. Three See also:weeks after he had affixed his See also:signature to the printed sheets of the theory of Neptune he died at Paris on the 23rd of September 1877. By his See also:marriage with Mademoiselle Choquet, who survived him little more than a See also:month, he See also:left a son and daughter.
The discovery with which Leverrier's name is popularly identified was only an incident in his career. The elaboration of the See also:- SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)
scheme of the heavens traced out by P. S. Laplace in the Mecanique See also:celeste was its larger aim, for the accomplishment of which See also:forty years of unremitting See also:industry barely sufficed. He nevertheless found time to organize the meteorological service in See also:France and to promote the See also:present system of See also:international See also:weather-warnings. He founded the Association Scientifique, and was active in introducing a See also:practical scientific See also:element into public education. His inference of the existence, between Mercury and the See also:sun, of an appreciable quantity of circulating See also:matter (Comptes rendus, 1859, ii. 379), has not yet been verified. He was twice, in 1868 and 1876, the recipient of the See also:gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, See also:London, and the university of See also:Cambridge conferred upon him, in 1875, the honorary degree of LL.D. His planetary and solar tables were adopted by the Nautical See also:Almanac, as well as by the Connaissance See also:des temps.
The Annales de l'Observatoire de Paris, the publication of which was set on See also:foot by Leverrier, contain, in vols. i.-vi. (Memoires) (1855–1861) and x.-xiv. (1874–1877), his theories and tables of the several See also:planets. In vol. i. will be found, besides his masterly See also:report on the observatory, a general theory of See also:secular inequalities, in which the development of the disturbing See also:function was carried further than had previously been attempted.
The memoirs and papers communicated by him to the Academy were summarized in Comptes rendus (1839–1876), and the more important published in full either separately or in the See also:Conn. des temps and the See also:Journal des mathematiques. That entitled Developpemens sur di4'erents points de la theorie des perturbations (1841), was translated in See also:part xviii. of See also:- TAYLOR
- TAYLOR, ANN (1782-1866)
- TAYLOR, BAYARD (1825–1878)
- TAYLOR, BROOK (1685–1731)
- TAYLOR, ISAAC (1787-1865)
- TAYLOR, ISAAC (1829-1901)
- TAYLOR, JEREMY (1613-1667)
- TAYLOR, JOHN (158o-1653)
- TAYLOR, JOHN (1704-1766)
- TAYLOR, JOSEPH (c. 1586-c. 1653)
- TAYLOR, MICHAEL ANGELO (1757–1834)
- TAYLOR, NATHANIEL WILLIAM (1786-1858)
- TAYLOR, PHILIP MEADOWS (1808–1876)
- TAYLOR, ROWLAND (d. 1555)
- TAYLOR, SIR HENRY (1800-1886)
- TAYLOR, THOMAS (1758-1835)
- TAYLOR, TOM (1817-1880)
- TAYLOR, WILLIAM (1765-1836)
- TAYLOR, ZACHARY (1784-1850)
Taylor's Scientific Memoirs. For his scientific work see See also:Professor See also:- ADAMS
- ADAMS, ANDREW LEITH (1827-1882)
- ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS (1807-1886)
- ADAMS, HENRY (1838— )
- ADAMS, HENRY CARTER (1852— )
- ADAMS, HERBERT (i858— )
- ADAMS, HERBERT BAXTER (1850—1901)
- ADAMS, JOHN (1735–1826)
- ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY (1767-1848)
- ADAMS, SAMUEL (1722-1803)
- ADAMS, THOMAS (d. c. 1655)
- ADAMS, WILLIAM (d. 162o)
Adams's address, Monthly Notices, See also:xxxvi. 232, and F. See also:Tisserand's See also:review in See also:Ann. de l'Obs. tom. xv. (188o) ; for a See also:notice of his See also:life, J. See also:Bertrand's " Eloge historique," Mem. de l'Ac. des Sciences, tom. xli., 2m' serie (A. M.
End of Article: LEVERRIER, URBAIN JEAN JOSEPH (1811—1877)
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