Pierre Méchain
| Pierre Méchain | |
|---|---|
Pierre Méchain
|
|
| Born |
16 August 1744 Laon |
| Died | 20 September 1804 (aged 60) Castellon de la Plana, Spain |
| Nationality | French |
| Fields | astronomy |
| Institutions | Paris Observatory |
| Known for |
deep sky objects comets metre |
Pierre François André Méchain (French pronunciation: [pjɛʁ fʁɑ̃swa ɑ̃dʁe meʃɛ̃]; 16 August 1744 – 20 September 1804) was a French astronomer and surveyor who, with Charles Messier, was a major contributor to the early study of deep sky objects and comets.
Pierre Méchain was born in Laon, the son of the ceiling designer and plasterer Pierre François Méchain and Marie-Marguerite Roze. He displayed mental gifts in mathematics and physics but had to give up his studies for lack of money. However, his talents in astronomy were noticed by Joseph Jérôme Lalande, for whom he became a friend and proof-reader of the second edition of his book "L'Astronomie". Lalande then secured a position for him as assistant hydrographer with the Naval Depot of Maps and Charts at Versailles, where he worked through the 1770s engaged in hydrographic work and coastline surveying. It was during this time—approximately 1774—that he met Charles Messier, and apparently, they became friends. In the same year, he also produced his first astronomical work, a paper on an occultation of Aldebaran by the Moon and presented it as a memoir to the Academy of Sciences.
In 1777, he married Barbe-Thérèse Marjou whom he knew from his work in Versailles. They had two sons: Jérôme, born 1780, and Augustin, born 1784, and one daughter. He was admitted to the French Académie des sciences in 1782, and was the editor of Connaissance des Temps from 1785 to 1792; this was the journal which, among other things, first published the list of Messier objects. In 1789 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
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