François Félix Tisserand | |
|---|---|
%2c_directeur_de_l%2527Observatoire_de_Toulouse_de_1874_%25C3%25A0_1878_(M%25C3%25A9diHAL_1700798)_(cropped).jpg) | |
| Born | (1845-01-13)13 January 1845 |
| Died | 20 October 1896(1896-10-20) (aged 51) |
| Known for | Traité de mécanique céleste |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | Paris Observatory Toulouse Observatory |
| Thesis | Exposition, d'après les principes de Jacobi, de la méthode suivie par M. Delaunay dans sa Théorie du mouvement de la Lune autour de la Terre (1868) |
François Félix Tisserand (French pronunciation:[fʁɑ̃swafelikstisʁɑ̃]; 13 January 1845 – 20 October 1896) was a Frenchastronomer.
Tisserand was born atNuits-Saint-Georges,Côte-d'Or. In 1863 he entered the École Normale Supérieure, and on leaving he went for a month as professor at the lycée atMetz.Urbain Le Verrier offered him a post in theParis Observatory, which he entered as astronome adjoint in September 1866. In 1868 he took his doctor's degree with a thesis onDelaunay's Method, which he showed to be of much wider scope than had been contemplated by its inventor. Shortly afterwards he went out toKra Isthmus withÉdouard Stephan andGeorges Rayet to observe the1868 solar eclipse. The French astronomers were accompanied byMongkut, the King of Siam who had calculated the location and the date of the eclipse by himself two years before and prepared a comfortable watching place for the scientists.[1]
In 1873 he was appointed director of theobservatory atToulouse, where he published hisRecueil d'exercices sur le calcul infinitesimal, and in 1874 became corresponding member of theAcadémie des Sciences. He took part in the French expeditions of 1874, accompanied byJules Janssen, to Japan,[2] and in 1882, accompanied byGuillaume Bigourdan, toMartinique[3] to observe thetransits of Venus. In 1878 he was elected a member of the Académie des Sciences in succession to Le Verrier, and became a member of theBureau des Longitudes. In the same year he was appointed professeur suppliant toLiouville, and in 1883 he succeededPuiseux in the chair ofcelestial mechanics at theSorbonne.[1]
Tisserand always found time to continue his important researches in mathematical astronomy, and the pages of theComptes rendus bear witness to his activity. His writings relate to almost every branch of celestial mechanics, and are always distinguished by rigour and simplicity in the solution of the most difficult problems. He treated in a masterly manner (Bulletin astronomique, 1889) the theory of the capture of comets by the larger planets, and in this connection published his valuableCriterion for establishing the identity of a periodiccomet, whatever may have been the perturbations brought about in its orbit, between successive appearances, by the action of a planet.[1]
His principal work,Traité de mécanique céleste,[4] is the most lasting monument to his memory, and is worthy to stand beside theMécanique céleste of his fellow-countrymanLaplace. In this treatise, published in four quarto volumes, the last of which appeared only a few months before his death, he fused into one harmonious whole the researches of Laplace and those of other workers in the same field since his time. It furnishes a faithful and complete résumé of the state of knowledge in that department of astronomy at the end, as Laplace's great work did for the beginning, of the 19th century.[1]
In 1892 he succeededMouchez as director of the Paris Observatory, and as president of the committee of the photographic chart of the heavens he contributed largely to the success of that great project. Under his direction the revision ofLalande's catalogue was brought almost to completion, and four volumes of theAnnales de l'Observatoire de Paris exhibit the progress made in this important undertaking. He was also editor of theBulletin astronomique from the beginning, and contributed many important articles to its pages. He died suddenly, in the fullness of his power, ofcongestion of the brain.[1]
He was elected a member of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1892. In 1894 he became foreign member of theRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[5]
Tisserand served as President of theSociété Astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society, from 1893-1895.[6]
The craterTisserand on theMoon is named after him, as is theasteroid3663 Tisserand.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Reilly, Anthony Adams (1911). "Tisserand, François Félix". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1015.