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Esprit Pézenas
Esprit Pézenas (28 November 1692 – 4 February 1776) was a French Jesuit astronomer, hydrographer, and mathematician who worked at the observatory in Marseilles. Through his writings and teaching he spread ideas on astronomy, mathematics and navigation including advances in other European countries. Pézenas was born in Avignon where his father worked at the court. He studied at the Jesuit college and taught physics, logic, and metaphysics for a while in Lyons and then at Aix. In 1728 he became a professor of hydrography at Marseilles where he taught navy officers navigation and other aspects. He wrote on hydrography, the measurement of tonnage, differential calculus. In 1749 he became director of the Observatoire St-Croix in Marseilles. Tomás Cerdá worked at the Marseilles observatory under Padre Pézenas and studied mathematical techniques. Pézenas translated the work of the English chronographer John Harrison in 1767 for use in the accurate determination of longitudes and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern France, it is located on the coast of the Gulf of Lion, part of the Mediterranean Sea, near the mouth of the Rhône river. Its inhabitants are called ''Marseillais''. Marseille is the second most populous city in France, with 870,731 inhabitants in 2019 (Jan. census) over a municipal territory of . Together with its suburbs and exurbs, the Marseille metropolitan area, which extends over , had a population of 1,873,270 at the Jan. 2019 census, the third most populated in France after those of Paris and Lyon. The cities of Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, and 90 suburban municipalities have formed since 2016 the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, an indirectly elected metropolitan authority now in charge of wider metropolitan issues, with a po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avignon
Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label= Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune had a population of 93,671 as of the census results of 2017, with about 16,000 (estimate from Avignon's municipal services) living in the ancient town centre enclosed by its medieval walls. It is France's 35th largest metropolitan area according to INSEE with 336,135 inhabitants (2019), and France's 13th largest urban unit with 458,828 inhabitants (2019). Its urban area was the fastest-growing in France from 1999 until 2010 with an increase of 76% of its population and an area increase of 136%. The Communauté d'agglomération du Grand Avignon, a cooperation structure of 16 communes, had 192,785 inhabitants in 2018. Between 1309 and 1377, during the Avignon Papacy, seven successive popes resided in Avignon and in 1348 Pope Clement VI b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Harrison
John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea. Harrison's solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. The problem he solved was considered so important following the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 that the British Parliament offered financial rewards of up to £20,000 (equivalent to £ in ) under the 1714 Longitude Act. In 1730, Harrison presented his first design, and worked over many years on improved designs, making several advances in time-keeping technology, finally turning to what were called sea watches. Harrison gained support from the Longitude Board in building and testing his designs. Toward the end of his life, he received recognition and a reward from Parliament. Harrison came 39th in the BBC's 2002 public poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pedro Nunes
Pedro Nunes (; Latin: ''Petrus Nonius''; 1502 – 11 August 1578) was a Portuguese mathematician, cosmographer, and professor, from a New Christian (of Jewish origin) family. Considered one of the greatest mathematicians of his time, Nunes is best known for his contributions to the nautical sciences (navigation and cartography), which he approached, for the first time, in a mathematical way. He was the first to propose the idea of a loxodrome, and was the inventor of several measuring devices, including the nonius (from which Vernier scale was derived), named after his Latin surname. Life Little is known about Nunes' early education, life or family background, only that he was born in Alcácer do Sal, his origins are Jewish and that his grandchildren spent a few years behind bars after they were accused by the Portuguese Inquisition of professing and secretly practicing Judaism. He studied at the University of Salamanca, maybe from 1521 until 1522, and at the Unive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nonius (device)
Nonius is a measuring tool used in navigation and astronomy named in honour of its inventor, Pedro Nunes (Latin: Petrus Nonius), a Portuguese author, mathematician and navigator. The nonius was created in 1542 as a system for taking finer measurements on circular instruments such as the astrolabe. The system was eventually adapted into the Vernier scale in 1631 by the French mathematician Pierre Vernier. Technical features The nonius was used to improve the astrolabe's accuracy. This consisted of a number of concentric circles traced on an instrument and dividing each successive one with one fewer divisions than the adjacent outer circle. On a standard scale of 90 degrees, there are an additional 44–45 concentric circles, with each divided into a specific unit size such that a scale unit on position n had an arc of 90/n degrees. Thus, the outermost quadrant would comprise 90° in 90 equal divisions, the next inner would have 89 divisions, the next 88 and so on. When an ang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gegenschein
Gegenschein (; ; ) or counterglow is a faintly bright spot in the night sky centered at the antisolar point. The backscatter of sunlight by interplanetary dust causes this optical phenomenon. Explanation Like zodiacal light, gegenschein is sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust. Most of this dust orbits the Sun near the ecliptic plane, with a possible concentration of particles centered at the point of the Earth–Sun system. Gegenschein is distinguished from zodiacal light by its high angle of reflection of the incident sunlight on the dust particles. It forms a slightly brighter elliptical spot of 8-10° across directly opposite the Sun within the dimmer band of zodiacal light and zodiac constellation. The intensity of the gegenschein is relatively enhanced because each dust particle is seen at full phase, having a difficult to measure apparent magnitude of +5 to +6, with a very low surface brightness in the +10 to +12 magnitude range. History It is commonly s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodor Brorsen
Theodor Johan Christian Ambders Brorsen (29 July 1819 – 31 March 1895) was a Danish astronomer. He is best known for his discovery of five comets, including the lost periodic comet, 5D/Brorsen, and the periodic comet 23P/Brorsen-Metcalf. Life Theodor Johan Christian Ambders Brorsen was born in Nordborg on the island Als, ( South Jutland), as son of the captain Christian August Brorsen (1793-1840) and Annette Margrethe Gerhardine Schumacher (1788-1855). He got his three middle names after the maternal grandfather of his mother, the Nordborg counsel Johan Christian Ambders (1710-1795). After the amicable divorce of his parents in 1822, Brorsen grew up at his mother's. Her good financial circumstances allowed him to attend the school of the Moravians in Christiansfeld (1826-1829) and then, from 1830 to 1839, the Latin school in Flensburg. By request of his mother, Brorsen studied law in Kiel (1839), Berlin (1840), Heidelberg (1841), and again in Kiel (1842), until he d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1692 Births
Year 169 ( CLXIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Senecio and Apollinaris (or, less frequently, year 922 '' Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 169 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Marcomannic Wars: Germanic tribes invade the frontiers of the Roman Empire, specifically the provinces of Raetia and Moesia. * Northern African Moors invade what is now Spain. * Marcus Aurelius becomes sole Roman Emperor upon the death of Lucius Verus. * Marcus Aurelius forces his daughter Lucilla into marriage with Claudius Pompeianus. * Galen moves back to Rome for good. China * Confucian scholars who had denounced the court eunuchs are arrested, killed or banished from the capital of Luoyang and official li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1776 Deaths
Events January–February * January 1 – American Revolutionary War – Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces. * January 10 – American Revolution – Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet ''Common Sense'', arguing for independence from British rule in the Thirteen Colonies. * January 20 – American Revolution – South Carolina Loyalists led by Robert Cunningham sign a petition from prison, agreeing to all demands for peace by the formed state government of South Carolina. * January 24 – American Revolution – Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga. * February 17 – Edward Gibbon publishes the first volume of '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire''. * February 27 – American Revolution – Battle of Moore's Creek Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People From Avignon
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they were or will be at another time despite any intervening changes. The plural form "people" is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), and this was the original meaning of the word; it subsequently acquired its use as a plural form of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Astronomers
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Fortnite French places Arts and media * The French (band), a British rock band * "French" (episode), a live-action episode of ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!'' * ''Française'' (film), 2008 * French Stewart (born 1964), American actor Other uses * French (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * French (tunic), a particular type of military jacket or tunic used in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union * French's, an American brand of mustard condiment * French catheter scale, a unit of measurement of diameter * French Defence, a chess opening * French kiss, a type of kiss involving the tongue See also * France (other) * Franch, a surname * Frenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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