Étienne-Hyacinthe de Ratte (1722, Montpellier – 15 August 1805) was an 18th-century 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, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

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 ...

. De Ratte made some verses in his youth, but he soon turned away from his natural tastes to engage with ardor in the study of mathematics. At twenty-one, he was secretary of the . De Ratte also wrote a number of contributions to the '' Encyclopédie'' on physical issues such as ''froid'', ''glace'', ''gelée'', etc. Although Ratte pursued diverse scientific interests, he devoted himself mainly to astronomy. In this discipline, he made a large number of observations, such as the

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

transit on 6 June 1761. The minor planet

159409 Ratte Events January–June * March 21 – Henry IV enters his capital of Paris for the first time. * April 17 – Hyacinth of Poland is canonized. * May ** Uprising in Banat of Serbs against Ottoman rule ends with the public ...

, discovered at

Pises Observatory Pises Observatory is an astronomical observatory at the Parc National des Cévennes in France. It is situated at 1300 m altitude and houses an optical telescope with a charge-coupled device used for asteroid surveys. List of discovered minor ...

in 1999, was named in his memory.

Works (selection)

*1743: ''Sur les pressions qui naissent du poids des parties supérieures d'un fluide en repos sur les inférieures et sur les pressions latérales des fluides dans des vases de différentes figures.'' * ''Sur l'accroissement subit de la tige d'une espèce d'aloès, agave americana de Linné.'' * ''Recherches sur la pesanteur dans un milieu, composé de petits tourbillons'' * ''Histoire de l'Académie royale de Montpellier depuis son origine jusqu'aux événements de 1789.''

Sources

* Ferdinand Hoefer, ''Nouvelle Biographie générale'', t. 41, Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1862, (p. 697–9). * Pierre Larousse, ''Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe'', vol. 13, Paris, Administration du grand Dictionnaire universel, (p. 730).

References

External links

Étienne-Hyacinthe de Ratte
on data.bnf.fr
Ratte, Etienne Hyacinthe de (1722–1805)
o
Thésaurus du CERL

Persée
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratte, Etienne-Hyacinthe 1722 births 1805 deaths 18th-century French mathematicians Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772) 18th-century French astronomers Scientists from Montpellier