Alexandre Guy Pingré
Encyclopedia
Alexandre Guy Pingré was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...

, priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

, and naval geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...

.

He was born in Paris, France, and was educated at Senlis, where he became professor of theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 in 1735. At an early age he had developed an interest in astronomy, and in 1749 he was appointed professor of astronomy at the academy of Rouen. He would eventually be appointed the librarian of the Abbey of Ste-Geneviève, and the university's chancellor. At Ste-Geneviève he would build an observatory, and continue to work there for forty years.

Unfortunately he had poor eyesight so his observing skills were limited, but he did earn a reputation as an excellent mathematician. He came to the attention of the scientific community when he detected an error of four minutes in Lacaille's
Nicolas Louis de Lacaille
Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille was a French astronomer.He is noted for his catalogue of nearly 10,000 southern stars, including 42 nebulous objects. This catalogue, called Coelum Australe Stelliferum, was published posthumously in 1763. It introduced 14 new constellations which have since become...

 computation of a 1749 lunar eclipse. After observing a transit of Mercury, he was made a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences. In 1757 he became interested in comets and published a substantial treatise on the theory and observational history of comets.

Subsequently he published a nautical almanac based on the work of P. Charles Lemonnier containing lunar tables. During the 1761 transit of Venus
Transit of Venus
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, becoming visible against the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun...

, Pingré went on one of the three observing campaigns organized by the Académie Royale, travelling to Rodrigues Island near Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

. Pingré's subsequent discounting of Giovanni Battista Audiffredi
Giovanni Battista Audiffredi
Giovanni Battista Audiffredi was an Italian Dominican scholar and scientist.-Life:Giovanni Battista Audiffredi entered the Dominican Order, and soon attracted attention by his taste for books and his talent for the exact sciences...

's observations led to a scientific dispute.

In 1767 he sailed to the Baltic with Charles Messier
Charles Messier
Charles Messier was a French astronomer most notable for publishing an astronomical catalogue consisting of deep sky objects such as nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 110 "Messier objects"...

 to test marine chronometers. Two years later he joined a successful expedition to Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

 to observe the Venus transit of 1769. In 1771 he participated in the naval survey of the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 La Flore with Verdun de la Crenne and Borda
Jean-Charles de Borda
Jean-Charles, chevalier de Borda was a French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor.-Life history:...

.

The crater Pingré
Pingré (crater)
Pingré is a lunar impact crater that is located near the southwest limb of the Moon, beyond the large crater Phocylides. It lies to the northwest of the huge walled basin Bailly, and to the east of the smaller Graff...

 on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

 is named after him, as is the asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 12719 Pingré
12719 Pingré
12719 Pingré is a main belt asteroid with an orbital period of 1272.0912335 days . The asteroid was discovered on June 6, 1991.-References:...

.

External links

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