Guillaume Le Gentil

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisière (born September 12, 1725 in Coutances , † October 22, 1792 in Paris ) was a French astronomer and member of the French Academy of Sciences .

He discovered several astronomical nebulae.

Observation of the Venus passage

In 1761 the French Academy of Sciences sent astronomers all over the world to observe the Venus Passage . The aim was to calculate the exact distance between the earth and the sun. Le Gentil traveled to Pondicherry in India . However, the city fell into the hands of the English shortly before his arrival due to the Seven Years' War . As a result, Le Gentil was forced to make his observations from the ship, but its fluctuations made the results unusable.

Since another Venus passage was to take place eight years later, Le Gentil decided to stay in order to be able to carry out the measurements again in 1769. He spent most of his time in Madagascar and planned to experience the passage in Manila , Philippines . Since the Spanish authorities in Manila did not allow this, he traveled back to Pondicherry. At that time the city was again in French hands.

On the day of the measurement, clouds prevented a view of the celestial spectacle, which is why Le Gentil had to return at the end of the day without having achieved anything. On the way back he also fell ill with dysentery and his ship got into a storm where it was damaged. He had to wait on the island of Réunion (at that time still Bourbon Island) until a Spanish ship took him away.

When he returned to Paris in October 1771 after more than eleven years, his relatives had already declared him dead and divided up his property. The academy had also already reassigned its place.

Honor

The lunar crater Le Gentil is named after him.

Works

  • Le Gentil, 1749 .: Memoir on a nebulous star newly discovered near that which is above the girdle of Andromeda]. Sav. étrangers, Vol. II, p. 137-145 (1755).
  • Le Gentil, 1759: Remarques sur les Étoiles Nebuleuses. Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences. Année M.DCCLIX. [Remarks on the Nebulous Stars. Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences. For the year 1759.] P. 453-471 + Pl. 21. Paris, 1765.
  • A Voyage in the Indian Ocean (2 volumes, 1779 and 1781)

literature

  • Lorenz Schröter: Venus Passage (novel). Hamburg: Rotbuch Verlag, 2001. ISBN 3-434-53077-0

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deutschlandfunk : An astronomer with a lot of bad luck (June 2, 2004)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Le Gentil, Guillaume
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Le Gentil de la Galaisière, Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1725
PLACE OF BIRTH Coutances
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1792
Place of death Paris