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 The large telescope at Meudon, the Grande Lunette, with an 83 centimeter diameter, has become legendary.  When it was conceived (after 1870), Astronomy was limited to visual observation. Knowledge of the sky was limited to what one could see with the human eye, assisted only by optical means. The large telescopes produced at this time allowed for higher magnifications, permitting close-up views; the Meudon telescope was able to accomplish this perfectly. At Meudon, which was to become a Mecca for visual observation, the major planets were examined in a way that no other telescope had previously been able to. The telescope monitored the state of their atmospheres and mapped the appearance of their surfaces.  Through the telescope, one could see the nuclei of comets, revealing their very small size, and by using a micrometer one could measure the separation of double stars and the diameters of asteroids.  With a marvelous little instrument, the polarimeter, the nature of clouds in planetary atmospheres could be determined and the type of surface material identified. The Grande Lunette has remained to this day the largest refracting telescope in Europe. Audouin Dollfus (1924-2010), a world-renowned astronomer who spent his entire working life at the Meudon Observatory, describes the great years of the Meudon refractor.  He gives the entire story of this instrument, from the birth of the concept that drove Jules Janssen at the end of the nineteenth century, to the idea that French astronomy could provide an outstanding telescope which would approach the limits of the technical and industrial resources of that time.  Out of action since the 1990s, the year 2006 marked the first steps toward restoration and public reopening of the great instrument.  This English translation is by Richard McKim, a Past President of the British Astronomical Association who often worked both with Audouin Dollfus and the instrument which forms the subject of this book.

Large astronomical telescopes --- Refracting telescopes --- Astronomy --- Astronomy & Astrophysics --- Physical Sciences & Mathematics --- Astronomy - General --- History --- Astronomical instruments --- History. --- Observatoire de Paris-Meudon. --- Instruments, Astronomical --- Instruments --- France. --- Observatoire de Meudon --- French National Observatory --- Observatoire de Paris. --- Astronomy, Observations and Techniques. --- History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics. --- Observatoire de Paris --- Physical sciences --- Space sciences --- Optical instruments --- Physical instruments --- Scientific apparatus and instruments --- Space optics --- Observations, Astronomical. --- Astronomy—Observations. --- Physics. --- Natural philosophy --- Philosophy, Natural --- Dynamics --- Astronomical observations --- Observations, Astronomical

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The Paris Meridian is the name of the line running north-south through the astronomical observatory in Paris. One of the original intentions behind the founding of the Paris Observatory was to determine and measure this line. To that end, the French government financed the Paris Academy of Sciences to do so in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries employing both astronomers – people who study and measure the stars – and geodesists – people who study and measure the Earth. This book is about what they did and why. Full Meridian of Glory is the first English language presentation of this historical material in its entirety. It is an attractively written story of the scientists who created the Paris Meridian. They collaborated and worked together in alliances, like scientists everywhere; they also split into warring factions. They transcended national and political disputes, as scientists do now, their eyes fixed on ideals of accuracy, truth and objectivity. Yet also when their work served national interests they were sometimes less than neutral, and if their work was questioned they sometimes blindly descended into petty politics. This book tells the story of the adventures in France, in Spain, in Lapland and in Ecuador of the scientists who worked through revolution, war, rebellion, piracy, fire, shipwreck, blockade, snow, tropical heat, kidnapping, murder and turbulent love affairs to pursue a problem of map making. They turned that practical problem into a crucial scientific test of one of the most important intellectual problems of their time – Newton’s theory of universal gravitation. Their work changed their own lives, affected the course of science and politics, and left its mark on the landscape, the art and the literature of history and in our own age.

Geodesy -- France -- History. --- Longitude -- France -- Paris. --- Meridians (Geodesy) -- France. --- Meridians (Geodesy) --- Geodesy --- Longitude --- Astronomy & Astrophysics --- Physical Sciences & Mathematics --- Astrophysics --- Practical & Spherical Astronomy --- Astronomy - General --- History --- History. --- Observatoire de Paris --- Degrees of latitude and longitude --- Geodetics --- Degrees of longitude --- Lines, Meridian --- Meridian lines --- France. --- Observatoire impérial de Paris --- Observatoire royal de Paris --- Observatoire national de Paris --- Paris. --- Physics. --- Geophysics. --- Astronomy. --- Astrophysics. --- Cosmology. --- Popular works. --- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology. --- Popular Science in Astronomy. --- History of Science. --- Geophysics/Geodesy. --- Popular Science, general. --- Observatoire de Paris-Meudon --- Geophysics --- Geomatics --- Mathematical geography --- Surveying --- Distances --- Geodetic astronomy --- Geographical positions --- Physical geography. --- Science (General). --- Geography --- Annals --- Auxiliary sciences of history --- Geological physics --- Terrestrial physics --- Earth sciences --- Physics --- Astronomical physics --- Astronomy --- Cosmic physics