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Benjamin Valz
Jean Elias Benjamin Valz (May 27, 1787 – April 22, 1867) was a French astronomer. He was born in Nîmes and trained as an engineer. He was the son of politician Jean Valz and the grandson of the doctor, meteorologist and naturalist Pierre Baux (1708–1790). He became interested in astronomy and comets in particular, observing the return of what would later be named Comet Encke. He later made a very complete calculation of the orbital elements of another comet, for which he won recognition. In 1835 he hypothesized that irregularities in Comet Halley's orbit could be explained by an unknown planet beyond Uranus — at the time, Neptune was not yet discovered. He built a private observatory at his home and when he left in 1836 to take up a post as director of the Marseille Observatory, he left the use of his home to Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, who used the observatory to discover the asteroid 51 Nemausa. The house, at 32 rue Nationale in Nîmes, has a plaque commemorati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
51 Nemausa
51 Nemausa is a large main-belt asteroid that was discovered on January 22, 1858, by Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent. Laurent made the discovery from the private observatory of Benjamin Valz in Nîmes, France. The house, at 32 rue Nationale in Nîmes, has a plaque commemorating the discovery. With Laurent's permission, Valz named the asteroid after the Celtic god Nemausus, the patron god and namesake of Nîmes during Roman times. Based upon its spectrum, this is listed as a C-type asteroid in the Tholen classification taxonomy, and as a Cgh by Bus and Binzel (2002). This indicates a composition similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Absorption features in the spectrum indicate the presence of phyllosilicates. It may have a water content of about 14%. The first stellar occultation was observed on August 17, 1979, from the Gissar and Alma-Ata observatories produced two chords which were used to estimate a diameter of 150 km for the asteroid. This is close to the present ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
19th-century French Astronomers
The 19th century began on 1 January 1801 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 (MCM). It was the 9th century of the 2nd millennium. It was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolished in much of Europe and the Americas. The First Industrial Revolution, though it began in the late 18th century, expanded beyond its British homeland for the first time during the 19th century, particularly remaking the economies and societies of the Low Countries, France, the Rhineland, Northern Italy, and the Northeastern United States. A few decades later, the Second Industrial Revolution led to ever more massive urbanization and much higher levels of productivity, profit, and prosperity, a pattern that continued into the 20th century. The Catholic Church, in response to the growing influence and power of modernism, secularism and materialism, formed the First Vatican Council in the late 19th century to deal with such problems and confir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1867 Deaths
There were only 354 days this year in the newly purchased territory of Alaska. When the territory transferred from the Russian Empire to the United States, the calendric transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar was made with only 11 days instead of 12 during the 19th century. This change was made due to the territorial and geopolitical shift from the Asian to the American side of the International Date Line. Friday, 6 October 1867 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Friday again on 18 October 1867 (instead of Saturday, 19 October 1867 in the Gregorian Calendar). Events January * January 1 – The Covington–Cincinnati Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, in the United States, becoming the longest single-span bridge in the world. It was renamed after its designer, John A. Roebling, in 1983. * January 8 – African-American men are granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia. * January 11 – Benito Ju� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1787 Births
Events January–March * January 9 – The North Carolina General Assembly authorizes nine commissioners to purchase of land for the seat of Chatham County. The town is named Pittsborough (later shortened to Pittsboro), for William Pitt the Younger. * January 11 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus. * January 19 – Mozart's '' Symphony No. 38'' is premièred in Prague. * February 2 – Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania is chosen as the new President of the Congress of the Confederation.''Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909'', ed. by Benson John Lossing and, Woodrow Wilson (Harper & Brothers, 1910) p167 * February 4 – Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts fails. * February 21 – The Confederation Congress sends word to the 13 states that a convention will be held in Philadelphia on May 14 to revise the Articles of Confederation. * February 28 – A charter is granted, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astrophysics Data System
The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a digital library portal for researchers on astronomy and physics, operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. ADS maintains three bibliographic collections containing over 15 million records, including all arXiv e-prints. Abstracts and full-text of major astronomy and physics publications are indexed and searchable through the portal. Historical context Johann Friedrich Weidler published the first comprehensive history of astronomy in 1741 and the first astronomical bibliography in 1755. This was an effort to archive and classify earlier astronomical knowledge and works. This effort was continued by Jérôme de La Lande who published his ''Bibliographie astronomique'' in 1803, a work that covered the period from 480 BCE to the year of publication. The ''Bibliographie générale de l’astronomie, Volume I and Volume II'', published by J.C. Houzeau and A. Lancaster, followed in 1882 until 1889. As the numbe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lalande Prize
The Lalande Prize (French: ''Prix Lalande'' also known as Lalande Medal) was an award for scientific advances in astronomy, given from 1802 until 1970 by the French Academy of Sciences. The prize was endowed by astronomer Jérôme Lalande in 1801, a few years before his death in 1807, to enable the Academy of Sciences to make an annual award "to the person who makes the most unusual observation or writes the most useful paper to further the progress of Astronomy, in France or elsewhere." The awarded amount grew in time: in 1918 the amount awarded was 1000 Francs, and by 1950, it was 10,000 francs. It was combined with the Valz Prize ''(Prix Valz)'' in 1970 to create the Lalande-Valz Prize and then with a further 122 foundation prizes in 1997, resulting in the establishment of the Grande Médaille. The Grande Medaille is not limited to the field of astronomy. Winners See also * List of astronomy awards * List of Nobel laureates—Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valz Prize
The Valz Prize ''(Prix Valz)'' was awarded by the French Academy of Sciences, from 1877 through 1970, to honor advances in astronomy. History The Valz Prize was established in June 1874 when the widow of astronomer Benjamin Valz, Marie Madeleine Julie Malhian, donated 10,000 francs to establish a prize in honor of her late husband. The Valz Prize was to be awarded for work of similar stature as that honored by the pre-existing Lalande Prize. The first Valz Prize was awarded in 1877 to brothers Paul and Prosper Henry, and was for the sum of 460 francs. Save for 1924, the French Academy of Sciences awarded the Valz Prize annually from 1877 to 1943. After 1943, the prize was awarded only sporadically (only once per decade from 1950 to 1970). In 1970, the Valz Prize was combined with the Lalande Prize to create the Lalande-Valz Prize, which continued to be awarded through 1996. In 1997, that prize was combined with numerous other Academy prizes to create the Grande Médaille. List ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Academy Of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, and is one of the earliest Academy of Sciences, Academies of Sciences. Currently headed by Patrick Flandrin (President of the academy), it is one of the five Academies of the . __TOC__ History The Academy of Sciences traces its origin to Colbert's plan to create a general academy. He chose a small group of scholars who met on 22 December 1666 in the King's library, near the present-day Bibliothèque nationale de France, Bibliothèque Nationale, and thereafter held twice-weekly working meetings there in the two rooms assigned to the group. The first 30 years of the academy's existence were relatively informal, since no statutes had as yet been laid down for the ins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Chacornac
Jean Chacornac (21 June 1823 – 23 September 1873) was a French astronomer and discoverer of a comet and several asteroids. He was born in Lyon and died in Saint-Jean-en-Royans, southeastern France. Working in Marseille and Paris, he discovered six asteroids in the asteroid belt ''(see table)'' and C/1852 K1 (Chacornac), a parabolic comet in 1852. This comet is thought to be the source of the current Eta Eridanids meteors. He also independently discovered 20 Massalia, which discovery is credited to the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, however. Jean Chacornac was awarded the Lalande Prize in 1855, 1856 and in 1863. The asteroid 1622 Chacornac and the lunar crater '' Chacornac'' are named in his honour. References External links J. Chacornac@ Astrophysics Data System The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a digital library portal for researchers on astronomy and physics, operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. ADS mainta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annibale De Gasparis
Annibale de Gasparis (; 9 November 1819 – 21 March 1892) was an Italian astronomer, known for discovering asteroids and his contributions to theoretical astronomy. Biography De Gasparis was born in 1819 in Bugnara to Angelo de Gasparis and Eleonora Angelantoni originally from Tocco da Casauria. Son of a doctor, he studied in the seminars of Sulmona and Chieti, becoming passionate of classic novels and learning mathematics as a self-taught person. In 1838 he arrived in Naples to study engineering at the School of Bridges and Roads, today's Engineering faculty of Naples University, and the following year he was accepted as a student at the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte by the director Ernesto Capocci. He studied mathematics and celestial mechanics and in 1845 he published his first scientific paper on the orbit of the minor planet Vesta. For this studies he earned, as early as 1846, the honorary degree in mathematics by the University of Naples. In 1848 he p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
25 Phocaea
25 Phocaea () is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 75 kilometers in diameter. It is the parent body of the Phocaea family. Discovered by Jean Chacornac in 1853, it was named after the ancient Greek city of Phocaea. Discovery and naming ''Phocaea'' was discovered on 6 April 1853, by French astronomer Jean Chacornac at Marseille Observatory in southern France. It was his first asteroid discovery out of a total of six. The asteroid was named after the ancient Ionian Greek city of Phocaea, modern-day Foça in Turkey, where the founders of Marseille came from. The naming was proposed by French astronomer Benjamin Valz. Classification and orbit ''Phocaea'' is the parent body and namesake of the Phocaea family (), a large asteroid family of stony asteroids in the inner main belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–3.0 AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,358 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.25 and an inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
