Pierre-Antoine Véron: Difference between revisions

'''Pierre-Antoine Véron''' (1736–1770) was a French [[astronomer]] and [[mathematician]]. He was a disciple of astronomer and writer [[Jérôme Lalande]]<ref>[http://astro-history.hautetfort.com/media/01/02/285079344.pdf Jérôme Lalande]</ref> at the [[Collège Royal]].<ref>[http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft3489n8kn&chunk.id=d0e1896&toc.id=&brand=ucpress Seymour Chapin, ''The Men from Across La Manche: French Voyages, 1660–1790'']</ref> Véron is famous for having made a historical observation of the size of the [[Pacific Ocean]]. Together with [[Philibert Commerson]], Véron iswas one of the main scientists accompanyingthat accompanied [[Louis Antoine de Bougainville]] on his voyage of exploration.<ref>[http://www.nationalgeographic.de/entdecker/louis-antoine-de-bougainville National Geographic – Louis-Antoine de Bougainville]{{de}}</ref> He died of illness in [[Timor]] in 1770.

Véron was the astronomer on Bougainville's ship during his 1766–1769 [[circumnavigation]] of the globe on the ''[[French frigate Boudeuse (1766)|La Boudeuse]]'' and ''[[French fluyt Étoile (1767)|L'Étoile]]'', but he had been earlier on other ships earlier.

By means of a [[solar eclipse]]<ref>Thomas Suárez, ''Early mapping of the Pacific: The Epic Story of Seafarers, Adventurers and Cartographers Who Mapped the Earth's Greatest Ocean'', Periplus Editions, 2004 ISBN 978-0-7946-0092-1</ref> and the new technology that was available to him, Véron was able to determine the [[longitude]] near Port Praslin in the southern part of [[New Ireland (island)|New Ireland]] on 13 July 1768.<ref>''Mémoires de l'Acadêmie des sciences de l'Institut de France,'' Institut national des sciences et arts, Paris, 1789</ref> This fact was important for, following a previous longitude he took at the [[Strait of Magellan]],<ref>Olivier Chapuis, ''À la Mer comme au Ciel; Beautemps-Beaupré et la naissance de l'hydrographie moderne (1700–1850)'', Presses de l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1999 ISBN 978-2-84050-157-2</ref> it allowed Véron to establish the width of the Pacific with precision for the first time in history.