A history of astronomical optics in France - INSU - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers Access content directly
Journal Articles Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (ISSN 1440-2807) Year : 2022

A history of astronomical optics in France

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the advances made in France in astronomical optics. They were quite important in the seventeenth century thanks to Mersenne, Auzout and Picard. Progress in the eighteenth century was less remarkable and many instruments had to be imported from England, but in the following century the developments were again significant thanks in particular to Arago, Foucault, Fizeau, Loewy and the Henry brothers, working with very competent instrument builders. The French school of optics flourished at the end of the nineteenth century and during the twentieth century, thanks to Fabry, his collaborators and successors, as illustrated by Perot, Chrétien, Lyot, Danjon, Paul, Couder, Courtès, Connes, Labeyrie, Baranne and Lemaitre, among others. However, from time to time there was a trend to build instruments that were too original and with little or no future, at the expense of more conventional but better-adapted instruments.
Not file

Dates and versions

insu-03667453 , version 1 (13-05-2022)

Identifiers

Cite

James Lequeux, Yvon Georgelin. A history of astronomical optics in France. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (ISSN 1440-2807), 2022, 25, pp.3-53. ⟨insu-03667453⟩
12 View
0 Download

Share

Gmail Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More