Pierre-Gilles-Antoine-Honoré Flaugergues, usually known asHonoré Flaugergues (16 May 1755 inViviers, Ardèche – 26 November 1835 or 20 November 1830[1]) was a Frenchastronomer.
Flaugergues was born in Viviers, the son ofmagistrate Antoine-Dominique Flaugergues, whose family originated fromRouergue. His mother was Jean-Marie-Louise de Ratte, of a family ofMontpellier gentry and the sister of mathematician and astronomerÉtienne-Hyacinthe de Ratte. He first gained an interest in astronomy at the age of eight through readingAlain Manesson Mallet'sDescription de l'Univers.[2] Under his father's guidance he showed early promise as a scientist,[3] though he was never to study formally or attend university.[4]
Although he published papers on a wide variety of subjects, it is as an amateur astronomer that he is best known. He was a longstanding friend and correspondent ofFranz Xaver, Baron von Zach andJerome Lalande. Though he was offered the post of director of theToulon observatory in 1797, he refused it, preferring to stay in Viviers where he had become aJustice of the Peace[3] and where he had a private observatory. In 1810 he was offered the directorship ofMarseille observatory. He again refused.[citation needed]
Politically, Flaugergues was a supporter of theFrench Revolution, holding a number of local administrative posts in the 1790s in addition to serving as a magistrate. He was a member of theInstitut de France and both theRoyal Society and thePrussian Academy of Sciences.[citation needed]
His work eventually came to the notice of the government, who awarded him theLegion d'honneur and tried to induce him to come toParis, but he again refused to leave the Ardeche, saying that Paris would "never give [him] the beautiful sky of Viviers".[5]
He discovered the "Great Comet of 1811" (C/1811 F1), and independently co-discovered the "Great Comet of 1807" (C/1807 R1).[citation needed]
In attempting to measure the rotation period ofMars, he noted inconsistencies in timing of yellow-colored features and concluded he was seeing atmospheric features rather than surface features. Therefore, some credit him with the discovery of dust clouds on Mars, however this is in dispute since his telescope was probably too small to accomplish this.[citation needed]
In addition toastronomy, he was active inmedicine andarchaeology, studying the maladies suffered by workers in thewool industry and organizing archaeological excavation atAlba-la-Romaine.[citation needed]
Acrater on Mars is named after him.[6][4]
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