Nicolas Louis de Lacaille

Nicolas Louis de Lacaille , 1713-62, French astronomer. As a result of his success in making meridional measurements in France under the patronage of the duke of Bourbon he was elected to the French Academy. He also became professor of mathematics at the Collège Mazarin, where he established an observatory in 1746. He was at the head of an astronomical expedition (1750-54) to the Cape of Good Hope. There he made observations of 10,000 southern stars, recording their positions; made the first measurement of an arc of the meridian of South Africa; and determined the lunar and solar parallax. Among his works are Astronomiae fundamenta (1757), Tables solaires (1758), Coelum australe stelliferum (1763), and Journal historique du voyage fait au cap de Bonne-Esperance (1763).

Lacaille, NicolasLouis de (1713–62)Frenchastronomer. From the Cape of Good Hope (in modern South Africa) he surveyed the southern skies in 1751–3. He discovered 24 new nebulae and clusters, and charted the positions of nearly 10 000 stars. While there he measured the position of the Moon simultaneously with J. J. deLalande in Berlin to obtain an accurate value of its distance. Lacaille published a star chart which introduced 14 new southern constellations; his full southern star catalogue, Coelum australe stelliferum, was published posthumously in 1763.