Jacques-André Mallet

Jacques-André Mallet (); also Mallet-Favre;
23 September 1740 – 31 January 1790)
was a Genevan mathematician

and astronomer.

In 1772, Mallet established and co-financed the first Geneva Observatory, and served as its director until his death in 1790.
His research primarily concerned occultations,

especially lunar and solar eclipses,

sunspots,
planetary orbits, and the orbits of the moons of Jupiter.

Biography

Early life and education

Jacques-André was born in Geneva to Jean-Robert, a Ranks in the French Army#Officiers subalternes - junior officers, captain in the French Army, and his wife, Dorothée Favre, both of Nobility, noble lineage.

Jean-Robert was from a branch of the Mallet family of Huguenot merchants and bankers
who had fled from Rouen to Geneva in 1557 to escape growing Anti-Protestantism, religious persecution.

Through his mother, Dorothée, Jacques-André was also a direct descendant of the :fr:Eidguenots, Eidguenot patriot François Favre, who famously clashed (with later support from his son-in-law, Ami Perrin) with the Calvinist John Calvin#Discipline and opposition (1546–1553), rule of Geneva.

Jean-Robert wanted his son to become a career soldier, but a severe burn to the thigh in childhood rendered Jacques-André permanently disabled and unfit for future service. Jacques-André instead pursued an education in science and research, joining the University of Geneva#History, Academy of Geneva in 1755. There, he was a pupil of the mathematician Louis Necker, brother of Jacques Necker, Jacques. Mallet also studied privately with Georges-Louis Le Sage, Le Sage before leaving Geneva in 1760 to study at the University of Basel, where he was a student of Daniel Bernoulli.

He completed his studies in 1762, and journeyed to France and England in 1765, where he became friends with astronomers Jérôme Lalande, John Bevis, who discovered the Crab Nebula, and Nevil Maskelyne, among others. Mallet's first introduction to the science of astronomy came from Lalande and Maskelyne during this trip.

Expedition to Lapland

In April 1768, upon the recommendation of Lalande and Bernoulli, Mallet was invited to Russian Empire, Russia by Catherine the Great and the Russian Academy of Sciences#In the Russian Empire, Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences to prepare to observe the Transit of Venus#1761 and 1769, 1769 transit of Venus from , Sápmi, Lapland.
He was accompanied by another Genevan astromer, :de:Jean-Louis Pictet, Jean-Louis Pictet, whose own assignment was along the Umba, Russia, Umba.
Others who were engaged to observe the transit include Stepan Rumovsky, Christian Mayer (astronomer), Christian Mayer, and :de:Christoph Euler, Christoph Euler, son of the mathematician Leonhard Euler. While in Saint Petersburg, readying themselves for their expedition north, Mallet and Pictet met with many members of high society, including Jean-Baptiste Charpentier the Elder, Jean-Baptiste Charpentier and the Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov, Baron Stroganov, who, like Mallet, had been a pupil of Necker at the Geneva Academy.

The transit of Venus occurred on 3 June 1769. From 76 points globally, astronomers and navigators, like 1769 transit of Venus observed from Tahiti, James Cook in Tahiti, were charged with observing the rare phenomenon.
Unfortunately for Mallet, rain obscured the transit, and he was only able to view its beginning. Despite the weather, he still managed to publish useful data regarding Parallax#Solar parallax, solar parallax, allowing for better estimation of the Astronomical unit, Earth-Sun distance by him and his colleagues. In December 1776, perhaps owing to his contributions in Lapland, Mallet was awarded honorary membership in the Russian Academy of Sciences#In the Russian Empire, Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Geneva Observatory

After his return from Russian Empire, Russia, Mallet was elected by the Bourgeoisie of Geneva, bourgeoisie to the Council of Two Hundred of Geneva, the Cantons of Switzerland, canton's Legislature, legislative authority. In 1771, he accepted an Honorary title (academic), honorary professorship at the University of Geneva#History, Academy of Geneva, acting as lifetime chairperson of the astronomy department. The same year, Mallet convinced his fellow members of the council to approve construction of a permanent observatory on the casemate of the ''Bastion St-Antoine'',
provided he settle a portion of the financing himself and supply accurate time calculations to the city watchmakers. Although Geneva Observatory, the observatory, Geneva's first, was founded by Mallet in 1772, some sources suggest the project was completed in 1773.

For the structure's design, Mallet had departed from a traditional, utilitarian plan, instead building a single-story octagon, capped with a Tholobate, drum and small dome. To furnish the observatory, Mallet purchased and installed a 10-foot achromatic telescope, likely manufactured by the English optician John Dollond, a high-precision clock from the French ''maître'' Jean-André Lepaute, and a Meridian circle, meridian bezel, crafted by Jeremiah Sisson, to better calculate the duration of Earth, Earth's rotation for Chronometry, timekeeping.
With his pupils and assistants, including Marc-Auguste Pictet and Jean Trembley, Mallet continued to observe Astronomical objects, celestial objects and bodies, and their interactions with each other and the Earth. In May 1772, Mallet was appointed as a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences, Académie des sciences by Jérôme Lalande.
As a correspondent, Mallet was seen as effective, meticulous, and dependable.

Avully

In 1771, after the death of his father, Jacques-André became responsible for the family estate located in Avully, a small Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality southwest of Geneva. The property included a château, agricultural buildings, and arable land approaching the Rhône to the north and west.
Each year, from about April to November, Mallet relocated to the country, eventually renovating a portion of the chateau's roof to act as his personal observatory. Mallet conducted official research in Avully, as well, with occasional assistance from Pictet and Trembley. In April 1773, having developed an interest in meteorology and crop Agriculture, cultivation, Mallet began a diary, diligently detailing Weather, weather patterns, livestock acquisition, sharecropping and labor, Agricultural machinery, equipment maintenance, crop maturation, quality of wine production, and more. His records have provided useful information to historians in their study of the agrarian society, agrarian systems and climate of Geneva in the History of Geneva#18th century, late 18th century. Mallet continued his diary until January 1789.

By January 1787, Mallet's health had deteriorated to such a great extent that he permanently retired to Avully, though he remained in his leadership position at the Geneva Observatory.
In June of the same year, while passing through Geneva on his Continental Europe, continental research expedition with Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Duke Ernest II, astronomer Franz Xaver von Zach visited Mallet in Avully to socialize and conduct research. Other scientists and intellectuals maintained Letter (message), epistolary communication with Mallet, including Johann III Bernoulli, Johann Bernoulli, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Jean Hyacinthe de Magellan, Johann Euler, and Charles Messier.

After his death in 1790, his former pupil Marc-Auguste Pictet succeeded Mallet as director of the observatory. Mallet's astronomical instruments from Avully were purchased by Pictet and the :fr:Société des arts de Genève, Geneva Arts Society, an organization founded by another of Pictet's instructors, Horace Bénédict de Saussure, Saussure, and donated to the Geneva Observatory. The Avully estate is currently protected as a regional Cultural property, cultural asset according to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, Hague Convention and Switzerland, Swiss federal law.

Family

Jacques-André was never married and fathered no known children.

In 1773, his youngest sister, Marguerite (1745-1824), married the astronomer and lawyer :de:Jean-Louis Pictet, Jean-Louis Pictet, Jacques-André's companion during the 1769 expedition to the Kola peninsula.
His other sister, Isabelle (1743-1798), continued Jacques-André's diary and estate accounts for two years after his last entry.

When Isabelle, like her brother, died unmarried, the Avully estate passed to her nephew, Jean-Pierre Pictet, father of the zoologist and paleontologist Francois-Jules Pictet de la Rive, Francois-Jules Pictet.

Legacy

It is generally accepted that the lunar crater Mallet (crater), Mallet was named after Robert Mallet, the Irish geophysicist and engineer. However, since no given name was originally denoted, Swiss astronomer Marcel Golay (astronomer), Marcel Golay, eighth director of the Geneva Observatory (1956-1992), suggested that Mary Adela Blagg, Blagg and Karl Müller (astronomer), Müller had labelled the eponymous crater in honor of Jacques-André. Founder and director of Geneva's Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de Genève, Museum of the History of Science, chemist Marc Cramer (1892-1976), also supported the misnomer theory, though he implied the crater was first named by Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt, Johann Schmidt.

Notes

References

External links

*
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallet, Jacques-André
1740 births
1790 deaths
18th-century scientists from the Republic of Geneva
18th-century Swiss astronomers
18th-century Swiss mathematicians
University of Geneva alumni
Academic staff of the University of Geneva
University of Basel alumni