Charité
Contenu
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Nom
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Charité
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Couverture temporelle
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Late 18th century
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Biographie
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An optician, he was commissioned by Cassini in 1785 to build a 7 1/5 ft mural quadrant for the Paris Observatory. In refusing he stated that such an order was 'une entreprise épineuse qui, bien loin de lui assurer une fortune honnête qu'il est en droit d'espérer, ne servirait qu'a le ruiner sans resource'. He therefore demanded permanent lodgings in the Observatory and the right to keep the tools which would be furnished to carry out the work. The conditions were refused and the order passed to Megnié.1 Despite this he was elected to the new Corporation of Instrument-makers with the title of 'Ingénieur du Roi' when this was founded in 1787/8, for the making of mathematical instruments.2
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Notes biographiques
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1 Archives Obs de Paris, D5.39. Another copy D5.60. Wolf 278.
2 Daumas 136.
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Identifiant
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1365
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ark:/18469/1stfw