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BornParis, France, 17 March 1707
DiedParis, France, 15 April 1788
Jean-Paul Fouchy was the inventor of the analemma and an observational astronomer. He was the son of Philippe Grandjean, from an old Mâconnais family, who came to Paris as an engraver-printer, and of Marie-Madeleine Hynault. Philippe invented the font “Grandjean.” Their son was educated to follow his father’s trade and began as an engraver-printer. Fouchy turned away from engraving and began to study science. In 1724, he was a pupil of Joseph Delisle . By 1727, Fouchy became a member of the Society of Arts under the patronage of the Count of Clermont. This society wished to apply scientific principles to artistic practice.
In 1730, Fouchy invented the analemma. This is a figure-eight curve that one draws around the straight meridian line. For any day of the year, the distance between the curve and the meridian line provides the difference between true noon and mean solar noon. He...
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Selected References
Condorcet, M. J. A. N. (1847). “Eloge de Fouchy.” In œuvres, published by A. Condorcet-O’Connor and F. Arago. Vol. 3. Paris: Firmin-Didot Frères.
Delambre, J. B. J. (1827). Histoire de l’astronomie du dix-huitième siècle. Paris: Bachelier.
Gotteland, A. (1990). “Grandjean de Fouchy, inventeur de la méridienne de temps moyen.” Horlogerie ancienne, no. 27: 105.
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Dumont, S. (2014). Fouchy, Jean-Paul. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_471
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