Astronomie

Description

First edition of this important work by the celebrated French astronomer, which served as an introductory text for a generation of astronomers. "In addition to his tireless efforts to improve astronomical tables, Lalande's greatest contribution was as a textbook writer, the most important of which was his Traité d'astronomie of 1764, with later editions in 1771 and 1792. It became a standard textbook and had the advantage over other texts of containing a great deal of practical information on instruments and methods of calculation." Lalande became interested in astronomy while lodging at the Hôtel de Cluny, where the well-known astronomer Joseph-Nicolas Delisle had his observatory. In 1751 Lalande went to Berlin to make lunar observations in concert with the work of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille at the Cape of Good Hope. The success of this undertaking and the subsequent calculation of the distance of the Moon secured for Lalande, before he had reached the age of 21, admission to the Berlin Academy and the position of adjunct astronomer at the Paris Academy. Lalande then devoted himself to the improvement of planetary theory, publishing in 1759 a corrected edition of the tables of Halley's comet. He helped to organise international collaboration in the observation of the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769; the data obtained allowed the precise calculation of the distance between the Earth and the Sun.