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French Corvette Aurore (1766)
''Aurore'' was a corvette or snow, designed by Nicolas Ozanne. Built privately on the personal funds of François-César Le Tellier de Courtanvaux, she was commissioned by the French Navy and used for scientific purposes. She performed the first measurement of longitude using Marine chronometer. Background During the 18th century, measure of longitude was performed by comparing the solar time of the ship with that of a know point, the difference in time being in relation with displacement on the globe. In practice, this was achieved by keeping the time of the latest point of departure by mean of hourglasses, and by tracking the moment the sun was seen at its zenith. However, hourglasses had a poor precision because they needed to be turned by hand at exact intervals, because sand tended aggregate due to humidity, and because its flow eroded the thin section of the bulb, accelerating the flow. Mechanical clocks were seen as the logical next step in technology, and in 1722, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very close to the Prime Meridian. Le Havre is the most populous commune of Upper Normandy, although the total population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen. After Reims, it is also the second largest subprefecture in France. The name ''Le Havre'' means "the harbour" or "the port". Its inhabitants are known as ''Havrais'' or ''Havraises''. The city and port were founded by King Francis I in 1517. Economic development in the Early modern period was hampered by religious wars, conflicts with the English, epidemics, and storms. It was from the end of the 18th century that Le Havre started growing and the port took off first with the slave trade then other international trade. After the 1944 bombings the firm of Auguste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandre Guy Pingré
Dom (title), Dom Alexandre Guy Pingré (11 September 1711 – 1 May 1796) was a French canon regular, astronomer and naval geographer. Early life Pingré was born in Paris but was educated by the canons regular of the St. Vincent Abbey, Senlis, Abbey of St. Vincent in Senlis, Oise, where he entered the community at the age of sixteen. In 1735, after his Holy Orders, ordination as a priesthood (Catholic Church), priest, he was appointed professor of theology at the school. He soon, however, came under suspicion of subscribing to Jansenism and was summoned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pamiers, Bishop of Pamiers, by whom he was rebuked and required to submit to an interrogation by a committee of Jesuits. In 1745 King Louis XV of France, Louis XV called a General Chapter of the Congregation of Canons Regular of St. Genevieve to which Pingré belonged. He commanded the election of a canon who would enforce the royal policy against Jansenist teachings. Participation in the chapter r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky. Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by the solar wind. Major disturbances result from enhancements in the speed of the solar wind from coronal holes and coronal mass ejections. These disturbances alter the trajectories of charged particles in the magnetospheric plasma. These particles, mainly electrons and protons, precipitate into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere). The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emit light of varying colour and complexity. The form of the aurora, occurring within bands around both polar regions, is also dependent on the amount of acceleration imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Den Helder
Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO ferryboat service operates the transportation link between Den Helder and the nearby Dutch Wadden island of Texel to the north. Etymology Before the year 1928 the official name of Den Helder was Helder. The origin of the name Helder is not entirely clear. The name Helder may have come from ''Helle/Helde'', which means "hill" or "hilly grounds", or from ''Helre'', which means a sandy ridge. Another explanation is that the name derived from ''Helsdeur'' (Hell's Door), likely because in the water between Den Helder and Texel (called Marsdiep) the current was so strong that many ships were lost. History Huisduinen was the original older part of the city, whereas Helder itself was a nearby smaller hamlet. When a harbour was built near Hel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Baptiste De La Chapelle
Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle (c.1710–1792, Paris) was a French priest, mathematician and inventor. He contributed 270 articles to the Encyclopédie in the subjects of arithmetic and geometry. In June 1747 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He was the inventor of a primitive diving suit in 1775, which he called a "scaphandre" from the Greek words ''skaphe'' (boat) and ''andros'' (man) in his book ''Traité de la construction théorique et pratique du scaphandre ou du bateau de l'homme'' (Treatise on the theoretical and practical construction of the "Scaphandre" or human boat). The invention of the Abbé de la Chapelle consisted of a suit made of cork which allowed soldiers to float and swim in water. As the name and description suggest, it was more of a flotation suit than a diving suit A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment. A diving suit may also incorporate a breathing gas supply (such as for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301 the upper Meuse roughly marked the western border of the Holy Roman Empire with the Kingdom of France, after Count Henry III of Bar had to receive the western part of the County of Bar (''Barrois mouvant'') as a French fief from the hands of King Philip IV. In 1408, a Burgundian army led by John the Fearless went to the aid of John III against the citizens of Liège, who were in open revolt. After the battle which saw the men from Liège defeated, John ordered the drowning in the Meuse of suspicious burghers and noblemen in Liège. The border remained stable until the annexation of the Three Bishoprics Metz, Toul and Verdun by King Henry II in 1552 and the occupation of the Duchy of Lorraine by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Map Aurore Journey-31414882583 B10628de42 B
A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as Physical body, objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although most commonly used to depict geography, maps may represent any space, real or fictional, without regard to Context (language use), context or Scale (map), scale, such as in brain mapping, DNA mapping, or computer network topology mapping. The space being mapped may be two dimensional, such as the surface of the earth, three dimensional, such as the interior of the earth, or even more abstract spaces of any dimension, such as arise in modeling phenomena having many independent variables. Although the earliest maps known are of the heavens, geographic maps of territory have a very long tradition and exist from ancient times. The word "map" comes from the , wherein ''mappa'' meant 'napkin' or 'cloth' and ''mundi'' 'the world'. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Ensigns
A French ensign is the flag flown at sea to identify a vessel as French. Several such ensigns have existed over the years as well as terrestrial flags based on the ensign motif. Current ensign The current French ensign is not, as the casual observer would think, identical to the flag of France. Though both are blue, white and red, the French civil ensign has those colours in the proportion blue 30, white 33, and red 37. The intention is to create a flag which, when seen moving at some distance, will appear to have columns of equal width; in addition, the slightly wider red column is intended to improve the flag's visibility at sea. File:Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg, The current French ensign, with proportions different from those of the French flag. Ensign of France (lighter colors).svg, The lighter colored variant of the current French ensign, with proportions different from those of the French flag. File:Naval Jack of Free France.svg, Ensign used by units with historic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Naval Ministers Of France
One of France's Secretaries of State under the Ancien Régime was entrusted with control of the French Navy (Secretary of State of the Navy (France).) In 1791, this title was changed to Minister of the Navy. Before January 1893, this position also had responsibility for France's colonies, and was usually known as Minister of the Navy and Colonies, a role thereafter taken by the Minister of the Overseas. In 1947 the naval ministry was absorbed into the Ministry of Defence, with the exception of merchant marine affairs which had been split in 1929 to the separate Ministry of Merchant Marine. History The two French royal fleets (the Ponant fleet and Levant fleet) were put under the control of Colbert from 1662, whilst he was "intendant des finances" and "minister of state" – but not "secretary of state" : he only became secretary of state in 1669 after having bought his way into the post. From then on, right up to the French Revolution, a secretary of state had responsibili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the City Region of Amsterdam, urban area and 2,480,394 in the Amsterdam metropolitan area, metropolitan area. Located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland, Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the "Venice of the North", for its large number of canals, now designated a World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Amsterdam was founded at the mouth of the Amstel River that was dammed to control flooding; the city's name derives from the Amstel dam. Originally a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became a major world port during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, when the Netherlands was an economic powerhouse. Amsterdam is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brielle
Brielle (), also called Den Briel in Dutch and Brill in English, is a town, municipality and historic seaport in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland, on the north side of the island of Voorne-Putten, at the mouth of the New Maas. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. In its population was . The municipality of Brielle also includes the communities Vierpolders and Zwartewaal. History Brielle is a very old, fortified city. Its name is derived from the Celtic word ''brogilo'' (meaning "closed area" or "hunting grounds"). The oldest writings about Brielle indicate that the current location is the "new" Brielle. ''Den ouden Briel'' (Old Brill) must have been situated somewhere else on the Voorne-Putten Island. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1306. The city was for a long time the seat of the Count of Voorne, until this fiefdom was added to Holland in 1371. It had its own harbour and traded with the countries around t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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