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Urbain Jean Joseph Le VerrierFrench astronomer, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Date of Birth: 11.03.1811
Country:  France |
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Biography of Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier
Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier was a French astronomer and corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He was born on March 11, 1811, in Saint-Lô, Normandy, into a family of modest civil servants. In 1833, he graduated from the Polytechnic School in Paris. Le Verrier initially worked in the laboratory of J. Gay-Lussac, studying chemistry, and later taught astronomy at the Polytechnic School from 1837 to 1846.
Contributions to Astronomy
In 1846, Le Verrier became the head of the newly created chair of celestial mechanics at the University of Paris, and three years later, he took over the chair of astronomy. He served as the director of the Paris Observatory from 1854 to 1870 and again from 1873 to 1877. Le Verrier's works were dedicated to celestial mechanics.
One of Le Verrier's notable achievements was his study of anomalies in the motion of Uranus. He discovered that these anomalies were caused by gravitational disturbances from an unknown planet. He reached out to the German astronomer J. Galle and asked him to verify his calculations through observations. On September 23, 1846, after just an hour of observations, Galle discovered the unknown planet very close to the predicted location. Le Verrier's calculations were only off by 1°. This newly discovered planet was named Neptune.
In 1849, Le Verrier proposed an extensive program to refine the theory of the motion of the major planets in the Solar System. Another fundamental result achieved by Le Verrier was the discovery of anomalies in the perihelion shift of Mercury's orbit. He showed that this shift could not be explained by the known bodies of the Solar System in 1859 and proposed the existence of a planet whose orbit is located inside that of Mercury. (Only in 1915 did this anomaly receive an explanation in the framework of the general theory of relativity.)
Le Verrier also studied the processes of asteroid formation, considering them as a result of the breakup of a planet under the tidal forces of Jupiter. He also researched the orbits of periodic comets and meteor streams.
Recognition and Awards
Among the honors bestowed upon Le Verrier were the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1846 and two Gold Medals from the Royal Astronomical Society of London in 1868 and 1876.
