Edmond Modeste Lescarbault
Encyclopedia
Edmond Modeste Lescarbault (1814, Châteaudun
- 1894), was a French
doctor
and an amateur astronomer
, best remembered for his 1859 observation of Vulcan
.
He graduated and obtained his diploma in 1848. He then started to work as a doctor in Orgères-en-Beauce
and worked there until 1872 (the street where he worked is now named after him). Keen astronomer, he built an observatory with a 3.75 inches (95 mm) refractor by his house and began correspondence with various scinetific societies. On 28 March 1859 he saw a small object transiting
the Sun
and having heard of Le Verrier's theory of an intramercurial planet named Vulcan, he wrote a letter to the astronomer and was consequently visited by him in December 1859. Le Verrier announced the discovery on 2 January 1860. Lescarbault became Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
and was invited to appear before numerous learned societies.
His manuscripts, including correspondence with Camille Flammarion
, are kept in Bibliothèque Municipale in Châteaudun. He died in 1894.
Châteaudun
Châteaudun is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of Eure-et-Loir.-Geography:Châteaudun is located about 45 km northwest of Orléans, and about 50 km south-southwest of Chartres, on the river Loir, a tributary of the...
- 1894), was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and an amateur astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
, best remembered for his 1859 observation of Vulcan
Vulcan (hypothetical planet)
Vulcan was a small planet proposed to exist in an orbit between Mercury and the Sun. In an attempt to explain peculiarities of Mercury's orbit, in the 19th-century French mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier hypothesized that they were the result of another planet, which he named Vulcan...
.
He graduated and obtained his diploma in 1848. He then started to work as a doctor in Orgères-en-Beauce
Orgères-en-Beauce
Orgères-en-Beauce is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.-Population:-References:*...
and worked there until 1872 (the street where he worked is now named after him). Keen astronomer, he built an observatory with a 3.75 inches (95 mm) refractor by his house and began correspondence with various scinetific societies. On 28 March 1859 he saw a small object transiting
Astronomical transit
The term transit or astronomical transit has three meanings in astronomy:* A transit is the astronomical event that occurs when one celestial body appears to move across the face of another celestial body, hiding a small part of it, as seen by an observer at some particular vantage point...
the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
and having heard of Le Verrier's theory of an intramercurial planet named Vulcan, he wrote a letter to the astronomer and was consequently visited by him in December 1859. Le Verrier announced the discovery on 2 January 1860. Lescarbault became Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
and was invited to appear before numerous learned societies.
His manuscripts, including correspondence with Camille Flammarion
Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction novels, and several works about Spiritism and related topics. He also published the magazine...
, are kept in Bibliothèque Municipale in Châteaudun. He died in 1894.