Joseph Jerome Lalande, French Astronomer
Joseph Jerome Lefrancois de Lalande (July 11, 1732 - April 4, 1807) was a French astronomer and writer. He devoted himself to the improvement of the planetary theory, publishing in 1759 corrected edition of Edmond Halley's tables, with a history of Halley's Comet whose return in that year he had helped Alexis Clairaut to calculate. In 1762 Delisle resigned the chair of astronomy in the College de France in Lalande's favor. The duties were discharged by Lalande for forty-six years. As a lecturer and writer he helped popularize astronomy. His planetary tables, into which he introduced corrections for mutual perturbations, were the best available up to the end of the 18th century. His publications in connection with the transit of Venus of 1769 he won great fame. However, his difficult personality lost him some popularity. In 1801 he endowed the Lalande Prize, administered by the French Academy of Sciences, for advances in astronomy. He died in 1807 at the age of 74. His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower
