Megnié Louis
Contenu
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Nom
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Megnié Louis
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Couverture temporelle
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2/2 18th century
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Biographie
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Described as 'Ingenieur en instrumens des Mathématiques' and as being an associé of the Académie de Dijon in the contract made between him and Cassini IV for the construction of a mural quadrant for the Observatoire de Paris in 1785. In 1779 it was probably he who received a half share of the prize established in 1774 by the Académie des Sciences seeking to replace their accredited instrument-maker following the death of Canivet. The trial piece was to be a 3ft quadrant accompanied by a detailed description of its construction. Although Mégnié did not obtain the title of Ingénieur to the Académie des Sciences, he received 1200 livres as half of the prize, a gratification of 2600 livres, and the instrument was purchased from him by the Italian astronomer Cagnoli.1 In 1784 Lalande noted that a quadrant that he had sent to Malta had been verified using Mégni's 'exact and ingenious methods'.2 The following year Cassini ordered from him a quadrant of 7 1/2 pieds radius for the Paris Observatory It was to be exactly modelled on the mural quadrant in the Ecole Militaire. Mégnié would be paid regular advances as the work proceeded and Lalande stood guarantor for him.3 It was also intended to order an equatorial or 'parallactic' instrument. Mégnié however was heavily in debt, and in the autumn of 1786 he disappeared to Spain to escape his creditors.4 There in Madrid, according to Lalande,5 he made several good instruments6 and was supplied with an observatory whence he sent observations to France. In 1793 however Mégnié was forced by the war to leave Spain. His observatory was demolished and his instruments were purchased by Lubbert of Hamburg who subsequently ceded them to the Prince de Wirtemberg. He seems nonetheless to have remained in Spain. There he was the first person to establish the longitude of Madrid and the 16 June 1806 he observed a solar eclipse at Aranjuez in company with Don Pedro Giraldo.7
7 Oltmanns, 22.
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Notes biographiques
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1 Daumas 361.
2 Lalande 666 and, for other astronomical instruments by Mégné, 745. An equatokrial circle dated 1780 by him is in Leyden.
3 Archives d'ObservatoireD5.40, 'Engagement pour le grand quart de cercle.', 23 janvier 1785.
4 Idem, Cassini to Breteuil 10 & 31 October 1786. The episode is also described in some detail by Wolf 280-3. Megnié was established at Madcrid by late November or early December for in a letter to Guyton de Morveau, 22 December 1786, the Director General of Mines, Francisco Javier de Angulo (1754-1815) remarks that 'Nous avons ici Megnié : c’est une acquisition que nous avons faite tout nouvellement'. Information from Patrice Bret 23 March 2016.
5 Lalande Hist abr. 720. 729, 813, 877.
6 See for example a precision self-orienting equinoctial dial, Lucien 7 December 2015, lot .
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Adresse ; enseigne ; période ; source
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Cour & Cul de Sac de Noueu Paris
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Identifiant
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2740
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ark:/18469/1sd8f