Jérôme Lalande
French astronomer (*1732 - †1807) · France · Scientists · Died at 74
Jérôme Lalande is read about 84 times a day, in 46 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 September 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?An 18th-century astronomer who pinned down one of the solar system's most elusive measurements: how far we actually are from the Sun.
Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
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Astronomie, Tome Premier (page 8 crop)
Abrege de Navigation_(14592486858).jpg?width=1200)
Astronomie (1771) (14592486858)
Astronomie des dames 2nd edition 1795
Bibliographie Astronomique
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Jean-Honoré Fragonard - Jérôme de La Lande (1732-1807) - PDUT1194 - Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris - 2Awards
About this person
Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande was born in France on 11 July 1732. He turned his attention to the stars and joined the freemasons, but his lasting mark came in 1769 when he used observations of Venus crossing the face of the Sun to calculate a precise value for the astronomical unit - the Earth-to-Sun distance that anchors our sense of cosmic scale. The work required exacting measurement and gave astronomers a yardstick for the solar system. He continued writing and observing until his death on 4 April 1807.
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