Urbain Le Verrier
 |
Urbain Le Verrier. |
Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier (
March 11,
1811 –
September 23,
1877) was a French
mathematician who specialized in
celestial mechanics. He worked at the
Paris Observatory for most of his life.
Le Verrier was born in
Saint-Lô, France.
His most famous achievement is the discovery of
Neptune, using only
mathematics and astronomical observations. Encouraged by
Arago,
[http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Arago.html] he performed calculations to explain discrepancies between
Uranus's observed
orbit and that predicted from the
laws of
Kepler and
Newton. At the same time, but unknown to each other, the same calculations were made by
Adams. Le Verrier assisted
Galle in locating the
planet (September
1846); which was found within 1° of its predicted location at a point in
Aquarius. (There was, and to some extent still is, some controversy over the apportionment of credit for the discovery; see
Discovery of Neptune.)
Perhaps galvanized by his discovery, Le Verrier proceeded to interpret the orbit of
Mercury as influenced by another planet (tentatively named
Vulcan). This triggered a wave of false detections, which lasted until
1915, when
Einstein explained the anomalous motion with his
theory of general relativity.
He won the
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in
1868 and again in
1876.
He died in
Paris,
France.
Craters on the
Moon and
Mars, a
ring of Neptune, and the
asteroid 1997 Leverrier are named after him.
