Pierre-Antoine Véron
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Pierre-Antoine Véron (1736–1770) 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 ...
and
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...
. He was a disciple of astronomer and writer
Jérôme Lalande Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (; 11 July 1732 – 4 April 1807) was a French astronomer, freemason and writer. Biography Lalande was born at Bourg-en-Bresse (now in the département of Ain) to Pierre Lefrançois and Marie‐Anne‐Ga ...
at the Collège Royal. Véron is famous for having made a historical observation of the size of the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
. Together with
Philibert Commerson Philibert Commerson (; 18 November 1727 – 14 March 1773), sometimes spelled Commerçon by contemporaries, was a French naturalist, best known for accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his voyage of circumnavigation in 1766–1769. ...
, Véron was one of the main scientists that accompanied
Louis Antoine de Bougainville Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville (, , ; 12 November 1729 – August 1811) was a French admiral and explorer. A contemporary of the British explorer James Cook, he took part in the Seven Years' War in North America and the American Revolutio ...
on his voyage of exploration. He died of illness in
Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...
in 1770.


Exploration of the Pacific

Véron was the astronomer on Bougainville's ship during his 1766–1769
circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Mage ...
of the globe on the '' La Boudeuse'' and '' L'Étoile'', but he had been on other ships earlier. By means of a solar eclipse and the new technology that was available to him, Véron was able to determine the
longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lette ...
near Port Praslin in the southern part of New Ireland on 13 July 1768. This fact was important for, following a previous longitude he took at the Strait of Magellan, it allowed Véron to establish the width of the Pacific with precision for the first time in history. The
Verron Range The Verron Range is a mountain range in the southern part of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, composed of limestone and volcanic rock. The highest point of the mountains is at 2,150 m. Together with the Hans Meyer Range and the Lelet Plateau, it i ...
, one of the main mountainous features in New Ireland,
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
, was named after him.History – NI mountains tell a tale


References


External links


The charts produced during the Pacific voyages of Bougainville and Cook: a comparison
18th-century French astronomers French explorers of the Pacific 1770 deaths 1736 births {{France-mathematician-stub