{"id":15088,"date":"2022-07-21T05:42:44","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T05:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booksofall.com\/id\/?post_type=product&p=15088"},"modified":"2022-07-21T05:42:44","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T05:42:44","slug":"camille-flammarion","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.booksofall.com\/id\/camille-flammarion\/","title":{"rendered":"Camille Flammarion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beginning his career by claiming that there is life on other planets,\u00a0Camille Flammarion<\/a> had by the end of the 19th century become one of the most famous astronomers on the planet! Passionate about astronomy, he contributed to making this field accessible to all. Nicolas Camille Flammarion (1842-1925) came to Paris in 1856 as an apprentice engraver and took evening classes, particularly at the Association polytechnique. He then joined the\u00a0Paris Observatory<\/a>‘s calculation centre as a “student astronomer”. But in 1862, his first book, ‘La Pluralit\u00e9 des mondes habit\u00e9s<\/a>‘ (‘The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds’), caused a scandal. In this book, Flammarion supports the theory that other planets might be inhabited. This\u00a0theory had, through the previous centuries, had such prestigious defenders as\u00a0Kepler<\/a>,\u00a0Galileo<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Descartes<\/a>! Flammarion left the Observatory immediately after, but his career in popular science had been launched.<\/p>\n

Popularising Science<\/h4>\n

His books were very successful: ‘Astronomie populaire<\/a>‘ (‘Popular Astronomy’), published in 1880, received an award from the Acad\u00e9mie fran\u00e7aise and had sold 100,000 copies by 1900. Flammarion published his books with major publishing houses like Hachette and Hetzel, and of course with Marpon and Flammarion, founded by his brother Ernest. Starting in 1865, he also taught classes and spoke at conferences, not only on astronomy but also on other subjects such as\u00a0aeronautics<\/a>. His activities took him beyond Paris: as early as 1868 he spoke at conferences in Belgium and also in Italy. In 1875, he travelled all across France on a grand tour, speaking in Burgundy, Auvergne, Brittany and Normandy.<\/p>\n

Life on Mars<\/h4>\n

Above all subjects, it was the planet Mars that most fascinated Flammarion. In 1876 he drew a map of the planet, taking into account his observations and those of all his predecessors since the 17th century. At the same time, the Italian astronomer\u00a0Giovanni Schiaparelli<\/a>\u00a0claimed to have observed a network of canals on the surface of Mars. In the controversy over these Martian canals, Flammarion chose to defend their existence. These canals confirmed his theory that life was possible on Mars, even though he admitted that he had never observed them himself. In 1892, he published a book devoted entirely to Mars: ‘La Plan\u00e8te Mars et ses conditions d’habitabilit\u00e9<\/a>‘.<\/p>\n

Astronomy for All<\/h4>\n

Astronomy is also very present in Flammarion’s science fiction novels, ‘Urania<\/a>‘ and ‘Stella<\/a>‘, but his interest went beyond books. He wished to set up a private observatory in Paris! So he installed a dome and a refracting telescope on a\u00a0property in Juvisy-sur-Orge<\/a> that had been given to him in 1882 by Louis-Eug\u00e8ne M\u00e9ret, an admirer and amateur astronomer. On 28 January 1887, he founded the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 astronomique de France (Astronomical Society of France) and became its president. After the astronomer’s death on 3 June 1925 in Juvisy, his peers named Asteroid 1021, discovered on 11 March 1924, Flammario in his honour!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"