- Charles-Eugène Delaunay
-
Charles-Eugène Delaunay
Charles-Eugène DelaunayBorn April 9, 1816
Lusigny-sur-Barse, FranceDied August 5, 1872 (aged 56)
CherbourgNationality French Fields astronomy Institutions Paris Observatory Known for lunar motion studies Charles-Eugène Delaunay (April 9, 1816 – August 5, 1872) was a French astronomer and mathematician. His lunar motion studies were important in advancing both the theory of planetary motion and mathematics.
Life
Born in Lusigny-sur-Barse, France, Delaunay studied under Jean-Baptiste Biot at the Sorbonne. He worked on the mechanics of the Moon as a special case of the three-body problem. He published two volumes on the topic, each of 900 pages in length, in 1860 and 1867. The work hints at chaos in the system, and clearly demonstrates the problem of so-called "small denominators" in perturbation theory. His infinite series expression for finding the position of the Moon converged too slowly to be of practical use but was a catalyst in the development of functional analysis[1] and computer algebra.[2]
Delaunay became director of the Paris Observatory in 1870 but drowned in a boating accident near Cherbourg, France two years later.[1]
Honours
- Member of the Académie des Sciences, (1855);[3]
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, (1870).[citation needed]
- His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.
References
Categories:- French astronomers
- French mathematicians
- Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
- 1816 births
- 1872 deaths
- Foreign Members of the Royal Society
- Members of the French Academy of Sciences
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