Lepaute, Hortense (1723–1788)

French astronomer and mathematician. Name variations: Nicole Reine Lepaute; Nicole-Reine Lepaute. Born Nicole Hortense Reine in 1723; died in 1788; her father was attached to the court of the queen of Spain; married Jean André Lepaute (1709–1789, a machinist and royal clockmaker), in 1748.

Born Nicole Hortense Reine in 1723, Hortense Reine married the celebrated clockmaker, Jean André Lepaute, in 1748, and was the principal author of his Traité d'horlogerie (1755). In 1757, she assisted Alexis Clairaut and Joseph-Jérôme Lalande in work on planetary theory, calculating the attraction Jupiter and Saturn had on Halley's comet. Though Clairaut was impressed with her work, calling her La savante calculatrice, he was too envious to acknowledge it. Thus, he alone is usually given credit. Lalande, however, recognized her services in his Théorie des Cométes, and Jacques Babinet likewise spoke of her genius.

From 1760 to 1775, Hortense Lepaute helped Lalande edit La Connaissance des Temps, an astronomical annual of the Académie des Sciences. She rendered calculations for the eclipse of 1762 and for the annular eclipse of 1764, which included a table of parallactic angles published by the French government. In 1761, a monograph on the transit of Venus was also published. From 1774 to 1783, she worked on the seventh and eighth volumes of Ephemeris, containing future calculations for sun, moon, and planets. Though her eyesight degenerated with age, she also wrote other scientific works, and was regarded as one of the most learned women of her time. A Japanese rose, named Lepautia in her honor, was later renamed Hortensia.