Observatoire de Marseille - Patrimoines 86209 676366

Observatoire de Marseille - Patrimoines 86209 676375

Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent (or Joseph Laurent) (died 1900) was a French amateur

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, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

and chemist who discovered the asteroid 51 Nemausa in 1858, for which he was a recipient of the

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 180 ...

awarded by the French Academy of Sciences. It is also likely that he is the same person as the person of that name who provided chemistry assistance to photography pioneer

André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri André Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri (; 28 March 1819 – 4 October 1889) was a French photographer who started his photographic career as a daguerreotypist but gained greater fame for patenting his version of the '' carte de visite,'' a small photog ...

in 1853. He never made any more asteroid discoveries and not much is known about him. He was described as a "very skillful young man" (''un jeune homme très habile'') by

Édouard Stephan Édouard Jean-Marie Stephan (31 August 1837 – 31 December 1923) was a French astronomer. His surname is sometimes spelled Stéphan in some literature, but this is apparently erroneous. He was born in Sainte Pezenne (today one of the districts ...

. He was described as a "distinguished pupil of the Marseille school", and as an amateur astronomer and an inspector of the

assay office Assay offices are institutions set up to Metallurgical assay, assay (test the purity of) precious metals. This is often done to protect consumers from buying fake items. Upon successful completion of an assay (i.e. if the metallurgical content is fo ...

in Nîmes (''contrôleur du bureau de garantie de Nîmes''). The asteroid was discovered using the private observatory at the house formerly occupied by

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 ...

, who left in 1836 to become the new director of the

Marseille Observatory Marseille Observatory (french: Observatoire de Marseille) is an astronomical observatory located in Marseille, France, with a history that goes back to the early 18th century. In its 1877 incarnation, it was the discovery site of a group of gal ...

. He entrusted his former observatory to Laurent, who later found the asteroid. The house, at 32 rue Nationale in Nîmes (at that time known as rue de l'Agau), has a plaque commemorating the discovery. Laurent was awarded the

of the French Academy of Sciences in 1858 for his discovery, jointly with five other asteroid and comet discoverers. In addition, asteroid 162 Laurentia was named in his honour. Laurent was named assistant astronomer at the Marseille Observatory on 26 November 1858, however he resigned on 20 February 1859. He cited the disorder in the management of the observatory by Valz as the reason. Valz for his part blamed Laurent for neglecting his duties and disloyalty, in a 14 May 1863 letter to d'Abbadie. Upon his resignation in February 1859, Laurent started a chemical analysis and testing laboratory in Marseille under the name J. Icard et J. Laurent.

First name

Nineteenth-century sources do not mention his first name, referring to him only as "M. Laurent", the standard French abbreviation for Monsieur Laurent. At one time the Minor Planet Center, which lists asteroid discoverers using their initials and surname, gave his name as "A. Laurent", with the "A." (for "Anonymous") as a sort of placeholder for an unknown first name. However, in a letter dated 5 September 1858 to Benjamin Valz, Laurent wrote that his first name is Joseph-Jean-Pierre (see image), and the Minor Planet Center now uses " J. J. P. Laurent". When using only an initial rather than his full first name, he sometimes used "J. Laurent". A small set of astronomical charts known to have been drawn up by Laurent himself, as well as a hand-drawn star chart portraying the discovery of 51 Nemausa, show his name as J. Laurent (see images).

Philippe Véron Philippe Véron (2 March 1939 – 7 August 2014) was a French astronomer. He worked at Observatoire de Haute Provence, where he was director from 1985 to 1994. He studied variability and statistics of quasars, as well as elliptical galaxies. He ...

in his unpublished ''Dictionnaire des astronomes français'' gives his name as "Joseph Laurent" In 1857, it was reported that Valz had undertaken the publication of equinoxial charts, to be drawn up by Laurent. When Valz reported the discovery of Nemausa in a letter to the ''Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des Sciences'', he cited this as the "first success" of these equinoxial charts. The equinoxial charts in question indicate the author as "J. Laurent" ''(see image)'' and this is also indicated in a library catalog. A notation (see image) at the top of a hand-drawn star chart in the Observatoire de Marseille – Patrimoines archives notes the discovery of the asteroid as follows: ''Némausa (51) dec. = découverte à Nîmes par J. Laurent (22 janvier 1858)'', which means "51 Nemausa disc. = discovered at Nîmes by J. Laurent (22 January 1858)".

Possible connection to photography pioneer Disdéri

pioneered the '' carte de visite'', an early form of mass-production portraiture photography. According to his biographer

Elizabeth Anne McCauley Elizabeth Anne McCauley is an art historian. She serves as David Hunter McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art at Princeton University. McCauley graduated from Yale University. Her work deals with 19th- and early-20th-ce ...

, Disdéri developed this process during his stay in Nîmes in 1853, and then moved back to Paris to make his fortune. She cites Disdéri's own book which thanks a chemist and assay office inspector in Nîmes named Monsieur Laurent for his assistance with the chemistry. In her book McCauley identifies the full name of this Monsieur Laurent as Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, citing an 1855 passport application. The coincidence of name, profession, city and time period is suggestive, however a definitive link to the discoverer of the asteroid has not been established.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurent, A. Discoverers of asteroids * 19th-century French astronomers Year of birth missing 1900 deaths Recipients of the Lalande Prize