Percival
Astronomy Per. 5
March 4, 2014
Camille Flammarion Biography
If one sets his or her mind on something, he or she can accomplish anything. A perfect example of this would be the renowned French astronomer, Camille Flammarion. Born on February 26, 1842, in the little town of Montigny-le-Roi in France, Camille found himself in a family stricken by poverty and was to become the oldest of four children. Although his family was poor, his parents assured him a good education by sending him to school early. Portraying astounding intelligence for a child, Camille was able to read and write at the age of 4 and was already excelling in grammar and math at 5. Camille's mother had always wanted him to have a career as a priest, however, because of her belief in a strong and solid education, she would place the first stepping stone for her son into the career of Astronomy. It just so happened that in 1847, an annular eclipse was to occur near where they had lived. Wanting her son to see this spectacular event, she placed a bucket of water near their house in order that Camille, a 5 year old at the time, would be able to make his very own observation through its reflection. After seeing this, there was an immediate spark of interest and amazement. This followed with questions he posed such as how were people able to tell when such an event would occur or how long would it be till the next one? All this led him to search for more opportunities to see eclipses and to find out more information about such things. Soon he was find that there were people specialized in these topics and with the help of algebra and geometry they were to predict events like eclipses. With his interest rekindled, he went to study cosmography, the study of the universe and the Earth, where he made his decision in becoming an astronomer.
Throughout his childhood, Camille continued his passion of the heavens, observing and recording whatever passed his sight, such as more eclipses and comets, including that of the weather and nature. There was a minor fallback during his life when his family was forced to Paris due to financial reasons in which Camille was taken out of school and was made an apprentice of an engraver to help his family make an income. This, however, did not discourage him from continuing his studies as he would join the Association Polytechnique, collect scientific journals and articles, and would spend every night studying algebra, geometry and even English, all without any assistance. Adding to this boy's outstanding skills, he even wrote his first book called Cosmogonie Universelle which gave Camille enough attention to be accepted to the Observatory of Paris where he would be under the eyes of the astronomer LeVerrier. With this amazing opportunity, Camille found himself pursuing his dream of recording the mysteries of the heavens.
Camille, becoming more enveloped into astronomy, would write journals and books, related to science and the stars such as La pluralite des Mondes Habites which became an immediate hit. In 1869, he became the editor of the Cosmos in which he wrote his own articles of astronomy and meteorology. Soon, he devoted all his time to writing about astronomy. He made charts of the positions of the planets and used spectral analysis to study the planets which he wrote articles and journals about and put them in Le Siecle. He also gave out lectures, which successfully allowed more and more people to discover and become passionate about astronomy. He made observations of the sky with a 0.108m refractor, where he made his own observations and observed Nova Coronae in 1866, all of which he put into his volume "Studies and Readings of Astronomy". One of his major accomplishments was his observation of double-stars. Camille came to find that there were many catalogs of double-stars, yet they were missing resumes, so he decided he was going to fix that. So with his observations of binary systems and even a triple system, such a Zeta Cancri, he placed all of his observations into "Catalogue of Double and Multiple Stars". Another topic in which Camille became interested in was meteorology, and the affects of the atmosphere. Through air balloons, Camille would observe the atmosphere and write up his book The Atmosphere. His best work was made in 1880, "Popular Astronomy" had almost everything about science with such easiness that anyone could read without having to face the trouble spots of the subject. This book received an outstanding amount of popularity and support which made his readers demand another book which resulted in the making of "The Stars and the Curiosities of the Heavens" in 1881 which had all his accurate observations of all the stars over his part of the sky above the 6th magnitude. It also had tables of stars' varying magnitudes at different times and descriptions of special stars, nebulae and star-clusters, including in the catalogs of Messier objects. His success continues as he made a chart of the Moon, made a lunar globe and a globe of Mars as well as a volume of "The Planet Mars and Its Conditions of Habitability" after years of observing the planet, which also gained much attention.
Although he wrote many novels and journals and made many observations, another very important part of Camille's life was when he founded the French Astronomical Society in 1887 which was made for anyone and everyone in order to spread the interest of astronomy and enabled people to use astronomical instruments to observe the sky. Continuing to write new novels, revise old ones and make more observation, Camille carried on with his life, gaining more and more popularity until on June 3, 1925, Camille died of a heart attack. Camille was married, although he was married twice due to his first wife dying of a stroke in which he married Mlle. Gabrielle Renaudot who also had a passion in astronomy. What this wonderful man left behind in the world were 55 published works, many more not published or finished and 23 works given to the Academy of Sciences. His works continue to be used and revised even today, and without his help, there probably would not have been as many people involved in the beautiful subject of astronomy.
Throughout his childhood, Camille continued his passion of the heavens, observing and recording whatever passed his sight, such as more eclipses and comets, including that of the weather and nature. There was a minor fallback during his life when his family was forced to Paris due to financial reasons in which Camille was taken out of school and was made an apprentice of an engraver to help his family make an income. This, however, did not discourage him from continuing his studies as he would join the Association Polytechnique, collect scientific journals and articles, and would spend every night studying algebra, geometry and even English, all without any assistance. Adding to this boy's outstanding skills, he even wrote his first book called Cosmogonie Universelle which gave Camille enough attention to be accepted to the Observatory of Paris where he would be under the eyes of the astronomer LeVerrier. With this amazing opportunity, Camille found himself pursuing his dream of recording the mysteries of the heavens.
Camille, becoming more enveloped into astronomy, would write journals and books, related to science and the stars such as La pluralite des Mondes Habites which became an immediate hit. In 1869, he became the editor of the Cosmos in which he wrote his own articles of astronomy and meteorology. Soon, he devoted all his time to writing about astronomy. He made charts of the positions of the planets and used spectral analysis to study the planets which he wrote articles and journals about and put them in Le Siecle. He also gave out lectures, which successfully allowed more and more people to discover and become passionate about astronomy. He made observations of the sky with a 0.108m refractor, where he made his own observations and observed Nova Coronae in 1866, all of which he put into his volume "Studies and Readings of Astronomy". One of his major accomplishments was his observation of double-stars. Camille came to find that there were many catalogs of double-stars, yet they were missing resumes, so he decided he was going to fix that. So with his observations of binary systems and even a triple system, such a Zeta Cancri, he placed all of his observations into "Catalogue of Double and Multiple Stars". Another topic in which Camille became interested in was meteorology, and the affects of the atmosphere. Through air balloons, Camille would observe the atmosphere and write up his book The Atmosphere. His best work was made in 1880, "Popular Astronomy" had almost everything about science with such easiness that anyone could read without having to face the trouble spots of the subject. This book received an outstanding amount of popularity and support which made his readers demand another book which resulted in the making of "The Stars and the Curiosities of the Heavens" in 1881 which had all his accurate observations of all the stars over his part of the sky above the 6th magnitude. It also had tables of stars' varying magnitudes at different times and descriptions of special stars, nebulae and star-clusters, including in the catalogs of Messier objects. His success continues as he made a chart of the Moon, made a lunar globe and a globe of Mars as well as a volume of "The Planet Mars and Its Conditions of Habitability" after years of observing the planet, which also gained much attention.
Although he wrote many novels and journals and made many observations, another very important part of Camille's life was when he founded the French Astronomical Society in 1887 which was made for anyone and everyone in order to spread the interest of astronomy and enabled people to use astronomical instruments to observe the sky. Continuing to write new novels, revise old ones and make more observation, Camille carried on with his life, gaining more and more popularity until on June 3, 1925, Camille died of a heart attack. Camille was married, although he was married twice due to his first wife dying of a stroke in which he married Mlle. Gabrielle Renaudot who also had a passion in astronomy. What this wonderful man left behind in the world were 55 published works, many more not published or finished and 23 works given to the Academy of Sciences. His works continue to be used and revised even today, and without his help, there probably would not have been as many people involved in the beautiful subject of astronomy.
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