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From Bourg-en-Bresse to the stars: Jérôme Lalande, astronomer of the Enlightenment
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Open in the appFrom Bourg-en-Bresse to the stars: Jérôme Lalande, astronomer of the Enlightenment ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lecture by Philippe Lebrun Considered one of the greatest astronomers of the 18th century, Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande… From Bourg-en-Bresse to the stars: Jérôme Lalande, astronomer of the Enlightenment ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lecture by Philippe Lebrun Considered one of the greatest astronomers of the 18th century, Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (Bourg-en-Bresse 1732; Paris 1807) was involved in most of the scientific advances and intellectual controversies of the Enlightenment, from the Encyclopédie to the measurement of the Solar System, from the return of Halley's comet to the figure of the Earth, from the Longitude Problem to the creation of the Metric System, from the popularization of science to the ephemerides of the Connaissance des Temps. His multifaceted activity, in the universalist spirit of the time, also led him to write a travel guide to Italy and a treatise on navigation canals, a key technology of the Industrial Revolution. Professor at the Collège de France, member of the Academy of Sciences and several academies in Europe, director of the Bureau of Longitudes and the Paris Observatory, he trained prestigious students and maintained relationships with many intellectuals, as well as with the great figures of the century. This native of Ain with a national destiny nonetheless remained attached to his roots in Bresse: Bourg-en-Bresse still bears the traces of his work in embellishment and cultural development. More than a history of Lalande's life, the lecture will seek to place his work within the scientific, and more generally intellectual, context of the time. It will be an opportunity to discuss some of these advances and controversies that marked the Enlightenment, and to present facsimiles of some original documents. Graduate of the School of Mines (Paris) and the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena), Philippe Lebrun worked on the design, construction and management of large particle accelerator projects at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research at…