Nicole-Reine Lepaute

views updated

Nicole-Reine Lepaute

1723-1788

French astronomical computer who assisted Alexis Clairaut in calculating the gravitational effects of Jupiter and Saturn on Halley's comet and determining the exact time of its 1759 return. Lepaute also calculated the 1764 solar eclipse path for all of Europe and assisted Joseph Lalande with the Académie des Sciences' astronomical almanac for astronomers and navigators (1759-64). She investigated pendulum oscillations that her husband Jean-André Lepaute, the royal clockmaker, published in his Traité d'horlogerie (1755).

About this article

Nicole-Reine Lepaute

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article