Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008
Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier , 1811-77, French astronomer who made calculations that led to the discovery of the planet Neptune . In considering the perturbations of Uranus , Leverrier made calculations indicating the presence of an unknown planet in an orbit outside that of Uranus. At the time, this was considered the crowning achievement of mathematical astronomy. The same conclusion had been reached by John Couch Adams a little earlier but had not been published, so Leverrier was initially given sole credit for the discovery of Neptune, which was actually first observed, as a result of Leverrier's instructions, by Johann Galle in 1846. After much controversy both Adams and Leverrier were honored as responsible for the planet's discovery. In 1854, Leverrier became director of the Paris Observatory.
Author not available, LEVERRIER, URBAIN JEAN JOSEPH.,
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press
Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from HighBeam Research
|
Anniversaries
The Independent - London; 3/11/1996; 341 words
; ... 1544; Prince Paul Anton von Galanthea Esterhazy, diplomat, 1786; Louis Boulanger, painter and lithographer, 1807; Urbain Jean-Joseph Leverrier, astronomer, 1811; Sir Henry Tate, sugar refiner and art collector, 1819; Carl Sprague Ruggles, violinist and composer ...
Read more
|
|
(book reviews)
Skeptical Inquirer; 1/1/1998; Hines, Terence; 767 words
; ... mathematicians, John C. Adams of England and Urbain Jean Joseph LeVerrier of France (shown above on a 1958 French ... orbit of the new planet. Adams and LeVerrier solved the problem almost simultaneously ... German astronomers in Berlin, using LeVerrier's predictions (Adams had been ...
Read more
|
 "Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL)")
|
Recent discoveries heat up search for another planet.(Neighbor)(Kids ink)
Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL); 9/3/2003; 689 words
; ... an eighth planet. In the mid-1800s, French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph LeVerrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams successfully predicted ... remarkable genius of the individuals who made the discovery. LeVerrier's calculations were so accurate that when astronomers ...
Read more
|
