Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 31
Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre painted by Coroenne in 1879, after a bust held at the
Observatoire de Paris. He leans on the volumes that describe the Basis of the Metric System
(the first volume, propped up by a standard 1 kilogram weight, is open to display the title page)
and stands in front of a terrestrial globe on which we seen Europe and Africa at the longitude
of the Paris meridian. He picks off the length of a degree with a pair of dividers against a scale
rule. © Observatoire de Paris
He was so poor that he lived for a year on only bread and water but became a tutor
and to make himself more in demand taught himself mathematics and astronomy. In
Paris he attended lectures by Joseph-Jérôme Lalande (1732-1807), a friend of
Voltaire and self-titled the “most famous astronomer in the Universe.” Delambre
attracted his attention by reciting from memory a relevant passage on the constella-
tions from the Greek poet Aratus and became Lalande's assistant and collaborator.
Lalande was a militant atheist, well connected to powerful people in the revolutionary
