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He was born at Bourg-en-Bresse (now in the département of Ain). His parents sent him to Paris to study law; but as a result of lodging in the Hôtel Cluny, where Joseph Nicolas Delisle had his observatory, he was drawn to astronomy, and became the zealous and favoured pupil of both Delisle and Pierre Lemonnier. Having completed his legal studies, he was about to return to Bourg to practise as an advocate, when Lemonnier obtained permission to send him to Berlin, to make observations on the lunar parallax in concert with those of NL Lacaille at the Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a headland in South Africa, near Cape Town, traditionally — and incorrectly — regarded as marking the turning point between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Technically, the division between the two oceans lies farther eas.
The successful execution of this task obtained for him, before he was twenty-one, admission to the Academy of Berlin , as well as the post of adjunct astronomer to that of Paris. He now devoted himself to the improvement of the planetary theory, publishing in 1759Events January 11 In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated. January 13 The Tavora family is executed following the accusation of attempted regicide on Joseph I of Portugal January 15 The British Museum opens corrected edition of HalleyEdmond Halley (sometimes "Edmund", October 29, 1656 January 14, 1742) was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist. Biography and career Halley was born at Haggerston, London, the son of a wealthy soapboiler. He stu's tables, with a history of the celebrated cometESA Giotto mission. The nucleus is sunlit from the left, and several bright jets of gas and dust are visible. Comet Halley officially designated 1P/Halley more generally known as Halley's Comet after Edmond Halley, is the best-known and the brightest of t whose return in that year he had aided Alexis ClairaultAlexis Claude Clairault (or Clairaut ( May 3, 1713 May 17, 1765) was a French mathematician. He was born in Paris, France, where his father taught mathematics. Under his father's tuition he made such rapid progress in the subject that in his thirteenth ye to calculate. In 1762 Delisle resigned the chair of astronomy in the College de France in Lalande's favour. The duties were discharged by Lalande for forty-six years. His house became an astronomical seminary, and amongst his pupils were JBJ DelambreJean Baptiste Joseph Delambre ( September 19, 1749 in Amiens August 19, 1822 in Paris) was a French mathematician and astronomer. Delambre was born in Amiens, France. In collaboration with Pierre Mechain, his greatest achievement was the measurement of th, Giuseppe PiazziGiuseppe Piazzi was an astronomer. He was born in Ponter (Veltlin) on July 7, 1746, and died in Naples on July 22, 1826. He established an observatory at Palermo. On January 1, 1801, Piazzi discovered a stellar object that moved against the background of, Pierre MéchainPierre Francois Andre Mechain ( August 16, 1744 September 20, 1804) was a French astronomer. He discovered seven comets, the first in 1781 and the last in 1799. Mechain was made a member of the Bureau des Longitudes in 1795 and was director of the Paris O, and his own nephew Michel Lalande. By his publications in connection with the transit of Venus of 1769 he won great fame. However, his difficult personality lost him some popularity.
Although his investigations were conducted with diligence rather than genius, Lalande's career was an eminent one. As a lecturer and writer he helped popularise astronomy; his planetary tables, into which he introduced corrections for mutual perturbations, were the best available up to the end of the 18th century; and the Lalande prize instituted by him in 1802 for the chief astronomical performance of each year, still testifies to his enthusiasm for his favourite pursuit.
Amongst his works are:
He communicated more than one hundred and fifty papers to the Paris Academy of Sciences, edited the Connoissance de temps (1759–1774), and again (1794–1807), and wrote the concluding two volumes of the 2nd edition of Montucla 's Histoire des mathématiques (1802).
See Mémoires de l'Institut, t. viii. (1807) (JBJ Delambre) Delambre, Hist. de l'astr. au XVIIIe siècle, p. 547; Magazin encyclopédique, ii. 288 (1810) (Mme de Salm); JS Bailly, Hist. de l'astr. moderne, t. iii. (ed. 1785); J Madler, Geschichte der Himmelskunde ii. 141; R Wolf, Gesch. der Astronomie; JJ Lalande, Bibl. astr p. 428; JC Poggendorff, Biog. Lit. Handworterbuch; M Marie Hist. des sciences, ix. 35.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica
Lalande, Jerome Lalande, Jerome Lalande, Jerome