César-François Cassini de Thury

César-François Cassini de Thury

César-François Cassini de Thury,
miniature watercolor on ivory by Jean-Marc Nattier
Born 17 June 1714
Thury-sous-Clermont, (Oise)
Died 4 September 1784 (aged 70)
Paris
Nationality French
Fields Cartography
Astronomy
Institutions Paris Observatory
Known for Topographical map of France

César-François Cassini de Thury (17 June 1714 – 4 September 1784), also called Cassini III or Cassini de Thury, was a French astronomer and cartographer.

Biography

Cassini de Thury was born in Thury-sous-Clermont (Oise), the second son of Jacques Cassini and Suzanne Françoise Charpentier de Charmois. He was a grandson of Giovanni Domenico Cassini, and would become the father of Jean-Dominique Cassini, Comte de Cassini.

In 1735, he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences as a supernumerary adjunct astronomer, in 1741 as an adjunct astronomer, and in 1745 as a full member astronomer.

In January, 1751 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[1]

He succeeded to his father’s official position in 1756 and continued the hereditary surveying operations. In 1744, he began the construction of a great topographical map of France, one of the landmarks in the history of cartography. Completed by his son Jean-Dominique, Cassini IV and published by the Académie des Sciences from 1744 to 1793, its 180 plates are known as the Cassini map (fr).[2]

The post of director of the Paris observatory was created for his benefit in 1771 when the establishment ceased to be a dependency of the French Academy of Sciences.

His chief works are: La méridienne de l’Observatoire Royal de Paris (1744), a correction of the Paris meridian; Description géométrique de la terre (1775); and Description géométrique de la France (1784), which was completed by his son ("Cassini IV").

César-François Cassini de Thury died of smallpox in Paris on 4 September 1784,

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  2. ↑ See this site for Cassini's map of France.

Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links