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(1714-06-17) Thury-sous-Clermont, (Oise)
Died	4 September 1784(1784-09-04) (aged 70) Paris
Nationality	French
Fields	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, Conte 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.^[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), Description géometrique de la terre (1775), and Description géometrique de la France (1784), which was completed by his son.

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

See also

• Cassini projection

References

1. ^ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27cassini%27%29. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
2. ^ See this site for Cassini's map of France.

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

Persondata
Name	Cassini De Thury, Cesar Francois
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	17 June 1714
Place of birth	Thury-sous-Clermont, (Oise)
Date of death	4 September 1784
Place of death	Paris