Jean-Félix Adolphe Gambart (12 May 1800 – 23 July 1836) was a French

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

. He was born in Sète in

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.Alexis Bouvard Alexis Bouvard (, 27 June 1767 – 7 June 1843) was a French astronomer. He is particularly noted for his careful observations of the irregularities in the motion of Uranus and his hypothesis of the existence of an eighth planet in the Solar ...

, who persuaded him to join the

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

profession. In 1819 he joined the Marseilles Observatory and became the director in 1822. During his career he recorded a number of observations of the satellites of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

, and discovered a total of 13

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

s. In 1832 he observed the

transit of Mercury frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Mercury across the Sun takes place when the planet Mercury passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet. During a transit, Mercury appears as a tiny black dot moving across the Sun as the planet obs ...

across the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

, noting that the planet appeared deformed as it approached the edge. He suffered from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

, and in 1836 died from cholera in Paris, aged 36. The crater Gambart on the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

is named after him.

Antonín Rükl Antonín Rükl (September 22, 1932 – July 12, 2016) was a Czech astronomer, cartographer, and author. He was born in Čáslav, Czechoslovakia. As a student he developed what was to be a lifelong interest in astronomy. He graduated from the Cze ...

: ''Atlas Měsíce'' (Atlas of the Moon), Aventinum (Prague 1991), chapter Stadius, p. 90, Crater Gambart on Moon
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, IAU,

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

He was also awarded the medal of the London Astronomy Society for his calculation of a cometary orbit.

References

Notes

* Jean-Michel Faidit, Un astronome sétois : Jean-Félix Adolphe Gambart, (1800-1836), revue d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de Sète et de sa Région, 2008, pp. 39-45} 1800 births 1836 deaths People from Sète Deaths from cholera 19th-century French astronomers Infectious disease deaths in France Recipients of the Lalande Prize {{france-astronomer-stub