Flammarion, Camille

(b. Montigny-le-Roi, France, 26 February 1842; d. Juvisy, France, 3 June 1925)

astronomy

At the time of Flammarion’s birth his parents owned a small store, but his father had been a farmer and Flammarion often mentioned this with pride. He was the oldest of four children. His interest in astronomy dated from his early childhood, when on 9 October 1847 and 28 July 1851 he was able to observe solar eclipses. By the time he was eleven he was busily making astronomical and meteorological observations.

In 1856 his parents’ disastrous financial condition led them to move to Paris. For the young Flammarion, this was a decisive event, since Paris offered him immensely greater opportunities for selfimprovement. He found employment as apprentice engraver, attended evening courses at the Polytechnic Association, learned English, and pursued his studies of algebra and geometry.

A chance encounter in 1858 marked the start of his career; a physician who was treating Flammarion noticed a bulky, 500-page manuscript written by the young man and entitled Cosmogonie universelle. The doctor read it and was so impressed that he brought it to the attention of Le Verrier, who was director of the Paris Observatory. A few days later, Flammarion was hired by the observatory to work in the Bureau de Calcul as an apprentice astronomer.

In 1861 Flammarion wrote La pluralité des mondes habités, his first book to be published. In this he revealed the pleasant literary style that was to make him the most important popularizer of science at the turn of the twentieth century. In 1862 he was calculator to the Bureau des Longitudes. He wrote for the Annuaire du cosmos and published the Annuaire astronomique et météorologique, first in the Magasin pittoresque, then later in L’astronomie. During the same period he also wrote many popularizing articles for the newspapers and delivered very successful series of lectures in Paris, the provinces, and several other European capitals.

Flammarion became greatly interested in the problems of the atmosphere. Between 1867 and 1880 he made many balloon flights in order to study atmospheric phenomena. In 1871 he published L’atmosphère. Les terres du ciel appeared in 1877 and then, in 1880, the famous Astronomie populaire, his best-known work, a true best seller that was translated into many languages and which, more than any other book ever written, spread interest in astronomy. It was followed in 1882 by Les étoiles et les curiositès du ciel.

At this point in Flammarion’s career, his scientific output was considerable and concerned with many subjects, including volcanology, atmospheric electricity, and climatology. Special mention must be made of his research concerning Mars. Scientific opinion of that time held that Mars was the only planet on which traces of life might be found. At the Juvisy Observatory, founded by him in 1883, Flammarion made numerous observations of the planet. As early as 1876 he had noticed the seasonal variations of the dark spots. In 1909 he completed La planète Mars et ses conditions d’habitabilité, a compilation of all known observations since 1636.

In 1887 Flammarion founded the French Astronomical Society, a model for all groups aiming to spread interest in science among the general public. For the first time relatively powerful astronomical instruments were put at public disposal, thus allowing numerous amateurs to indulge their taste for science. The activities of the French Astronomical Society created a reservoir of scientists from which emerged most of the outstanding French astronomers of this century.

It was inevitable that Flammarion, who possessed an extraordinary intellectual curiosity and imagination, take an interest in what today is called parapsychology. His taste for scientific precision and his intellectual honesty led him to unmask the inaccuracies, lies, and hoaxes that have always encumbered this field. He directed investigations of and performed experiments in psychic phenomena and gathered most of the results into several books, including La mort et son mystère, L’inconnu et les problèmes psychiques, and Les maisons hantees

His love of life and his profound sensitivity led Flammarion to a literary as well as a scientific career. He published several novels, in which science serves as a backdrop.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Flammarion’s most important works in astronomy and geophysics, all published in Paris, are Astronomie populaire (1880); Les étoiles et les curiosilés du ciel (1882); Les terres du ciel (1877); Les merveilles célestes; La planète Mars et ses conditions d’habitabilité (1892); La planète Venus; Les etoiles doubles; L’atmosphère (1871); Mes voyages aériens; Tremblements de terre et éryotuibs voucaniques; L’eruption du Krakatoa; Les caprices de la foudre; Les phenomenes de la foudre (1905); and Le monde avant la crèation de l’homme (1885)

In philosophy, see La pluralitè des mondes habitès; L’inconnu et les problèmes psychiques (1900); Les force naturelles inconnues; La mort et son mystère, 3 vols.(1920-1921); and Les maisons hantèes, all published in Paris.

His autobiography is Mèmoires biographiques et philosophiques d’un astronome. His novels include Uranie (1889) and Stella.

Roger Servajean