French astronomer Le Verrier, who co-discovered planet Neptune, is remembered.
Great Thinkers Datebook: March 11
Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier (1811-1877), French astronomer who co-discovered planet Neptune, was born in St. Lo, Normandy.
Le Verrier became a teacher of astronomy at the Polytechnique. His Tables de Mercure and several memoirs gained him admissions to the Academy in 1846.
He inferred the existence of an undiscovered planet and calculated the point in the heavens, where a few days later, Neptune was actually discovered by Johann Gottfried Galle at Berlin in 1846.
Le Verrier was made a senator by Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon) in 1852. Two years later, he succeeded Francois Arago as director of the Paris observatory.
Source:
Chambers Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern (2002)
