Jean-Baptiste Joseph Delambre
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Delambre (born September 19, 1749 in Amiens , † August 19, 1822 in Paris ) was a French astronomer and historian of astronomy.
life and work
Delambre initially devoted himself to historical and literary, later also to natural science and mathematical studies. From 1771 he was employed as an educator at the court of the general tenant Jean-Claude Geoffroy d'Assy in Paris to teach his son. On the advice of Jérôme Lalande , he turned to astronomy and made successful observations at the small observatory that he had built d'Assy.
Then he made solar and planetary tables (1789 for Jupiter and Saturn , for Uranus, but especially for the moons of Jupiter).
In 1792 Delambre was accepted into the Académie des Sciences . After the Bureau des Longitudes had been set up, he was also installed there as a member in 1795 and permanent secretary of the institute in 1803. In 1807 he was appointed professor at the Collège de France in Paris. From 1808 he was treasurer of the imperial university. He retired in 1815.
Together with Pierre Méchain , Delambre measured the distance between Dunkirk and Barcelona between 1792 and 1798 during the so-called Meridian Expedition . The result served as the basis for defining the meter . Delambre took over the northern part of the measurement during the expedition (see also degree measurement ). In 1791 Delambre was elected a Fellow in the Royal Society , in 1803 in the American Philosophical Society and in 1822 in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . Since 1787 he was a foreign member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and since 1801 of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In 1810 he became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg and in 1820 an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .
Delambre was immortalized by name as one of 72 scientists and engineers on the Eiffel Tower . In addition, the lunar crater Delambre and the asteroid (13962) Delambre are named after him.
Fonts (selection)
- Base du système métrique décimal, ou mesure de l'arc du méridien compris… . Paris 1806 ( online ), ( digitized ) - with P. Méchain.
- Astronomie théoretique et pratique . 3 volumes, Paris 1814.
- Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne . 2 volumes, Paris 1817.
- Histoire de l'astronomie au moyen-âge . Paris 1819.
- Histoire de l'astronomie modern . 2 volumes, Paris 1821.
- Histoire de l'astronomie au 18e siècle . Paris 1827 - ed. by Mathieu
literature
- Ken Alder : The measure of the world. The search for the original meter. C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-570-00545-3 .
- Denis Guedj: The birth of the meter or how the two astronomers Jean-Baptiste Delambre and Pierre Méchain found the new measure of all things from the spirit of the Enlightenment in the turmoil of the French Revolution . Campus, Frankfurt a. M. 1991, ISBN 3-593-34429-7 .
- Literature by and about Jean-Baptiste Joseph Delambre in the catalog of the German National Library
Web links
- Publications by JBJ Delambre in the Astrophysics Data System
- Entry on Delambre, Jean Baptiste Joseph (1749–1822) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
Individual evidence
- ^ Member History: Jean BJ Delambre. American Philosophical Society, accessed July 11, 2018 .
- ^ Members of the previous academies. Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences , accessed on March 13, 2015 .
- ^ Member entry by Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on January 24, 2017.
- ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed August 25, 2015 .
- ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed October 21, 2019 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Delambre, Jean-Baptiste Joseph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 19, 1749 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Amiens |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 19, 1822 |
| Place of death | Paris |