Paul Murdin

IoA, Cambridge

Abstract

Artilleryman to head of state - how astronomy inspired Francois Arago

Francois Arago studied maths at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris in order to be an artillery officer.  His adventurous experiences with astronomy during what we would call a gap year in 1806-8 during the Napoleonic Wars inspired him into a scientific career in which he became the scientific director of the Paris Observatory and the Secretary of the Academie des Sciences.  He introduced Foucault’s pendulum, leading to crowds of Parisians gawping at the rotation of the Earth and arranged for the French nation to buy Daguerre’s invention.  He was briefly Head of State in 1848, a level attained by few other astronomers (three?)  I will outline his adventures and career as an exemplar of the inspiration of astronomy.

Biographical Details

Paul Murdin is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, Treasurer of the Royal Astronomical Society and Visiting Professor at Liverpool John Moores University.  He was formerly a research astronomer, working at the Anglo-Australian Observatory and on La Palma, amongst other places, and a scientific administrator for the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (of blessed memory) and the British National Space Centre.  He has a secondary career as a populariser of astronomy.  His most recent book Secrets of the Universe is published by Thames & Hudson.