Mathieu, Claude-Louis

▪ French astronomer and mathematician

born Nov. 25, 1783, Macon, Fr.

died March 5, 1875, Paris

      French astronomer and mathematician who worked particularly on the determination of the distances of the stars.

      After a brief period as an engineer, Mathieu became an astronomer at the Observatoire de Paris and at the Bureau des Longitudes in 1817. He later served as professor of astronomy at the Collège de France, Paris, and from 1829 was professor of analysis at the École Polytechnique, Paris. He represented Macon in the Chamber of Deputies (1834–48). For many years he edited the work on population statistics, L'Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes, and published L'Histoire de l'astronomie au XVIII^e siècle (1827; “The History of Astronomy of the 18th Century”).

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