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Ferdinand Berthoud
Ferdinand Berthoud (born 18 March 1727, in Plancemont-sur-Couvet, Principality of Neuchâtel; died 20 June 1807, in Groslay, Val d'Oise), was a scientist and watchmaker. He became master watchmaker in Paris in 1753. Berthoud, who held the position of Horologist-Mechanic by appointment to the King and the Navy, left behind him an exceptionally broad body of work, in particular in the field of marine chronometers. History Ferdinand Berthoud was born on 18 March 1727, in Plancemont, Val-de-Travers, in the Principality of Neuchâtel, which then belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia, into a distinguished family of watch and clock makers. His father, Jean Berthoud, was a master carpenter and architect. He was a burgher of Couvet, burgher of Neuchâtel, and justice of the peace for Val-de-Travers from 1717 to 1732. His mother, Judith Berthoud (1682–1765) was born in Couvet. Ferdinand had four brothers: Abraham (1708-?); Jean-Henry (1710–1790), justice of the peace for Val-de-T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groslay
Groslay () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located 15 km north of Paris, the capital. Boundaries The commune is bounded with Montmorency, Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, Sarcelles, Deuil-la-Barre and Montmagny. History The name comes from ''Graua'', a Gaulish word, that means "terrain with pebbles". The nature of the soil was particularly favorable for wine growing, which was exploited here from antiquity until the late 19th century phylloxera epidemic. The name was first mentioned in an act of donations from the Abbey of Saint-Denis in 862. The first master of Groslay was Odon or Éudes of Groslay in the late 11th century. In the 13th century, the village became a fief of the House of Montmorency, in the 17th century of the House of Condé. The commune was essentially about wine which was produced until the early 20th century. Groslay has seen similar developments as neighbouring Montmorency: construction of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Baptiste Chappe D'Auteroche
Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche (23 March 1722 – 1 August 1769) was a French astronomer, best known for his observations of the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769. Early life Little is known of Chappe's early life. He was born into a distinguished family holding administrative posts and coming from Auvergne, a region of central France. He entered the priesthood, probably as a Jesuit, and devoted himself to the study of astronomy. He was appointed assistant astronomer at the Royal Observatory and admitted to the Royal Academy of Sciences on 14 January 1759. Distance from the Earth to the Sun In the mid-18th century, the dynamics of the Solar System were reasonably well understood, but astronomers only had an approximate idea of its scale. If the distance between two planets could be measured, all the other distances would be known from Kepler's laws of planetary motion. The best candidate for an accurate measurement was the distance between the Earth and Venus, which coul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antoine Bruni D'Entrecasteaux
Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux () (8 November 1737 – 21 July 1793) was a French naval officer, explorer and colonial governor. He is perhaps best known for his exploration of the Australian coast in 1792, while searching for the La Pérouse expedition. Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux is commonly referred to simply as Bruni d'Entrecasteaux or Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, which is a compound surname (derived from his father's surname, Bruni and the family's origins in Entrecasteaux). Early career Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was born to Dorothée de Lestang-Parade and Jean Baptiste Bruny, at Aix-en-Provence in 1739. His father was a member of the ''Parlement'' of Provence. Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was educated at a Jesuit school and reportedly intended to become a priest in the Society of Jesus, but his father intervened and enlisted him in the French Navy in 1754. In the action that secured the Balearic Islands for Spain (and resulted in the execution ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the wider area of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (currently a part of Papua New Guinea), but excludes the Santa Cruz Islands. The islands have been settled since at least some time between 30,000 and 28,800 BCE, with later waves of migrants, notably the Lapita people, mixing and producing the modern indigenous Solomon Islanders population. In 1568, the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to visit them. Though not named by Mendaña, it is believed that the islands were called ''"the Solomons"'' by those who later r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Cruz Islands
The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the nation of Solomon Islands discovered by the Spaniards. They lie approximately 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands archipelago. The Santa Cruz Islands lie just north of the archipelago of Vanuatu, and are considered part of the Vanuatu rain forests ecoregion. Geography The term Santa Cruz Islands is sometimes used to encompass all of the islands of the present-day Solomon Islands province of Temotu. The largest island is Nendö, which is also known as Santa Cruz Island proper (505.5 km2, highest point , population over 5000). Lata, located on Nendö, is the largest town, and the capital of Temotu province. Other islands belonging to the Santa Cruz group are Vanikoro (173.2 km2, population 800, which is actually two islands, Banie and its small neighbor Teanu) and Utupua (69.0 km2, highest point , population 848). The Santa Cru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanikoro
Vanikoro (sometimes wrongly named ''Vanikolo'') is an island in the Santa Cruz group, located to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group. It is part of the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. The name ''Vanikoro'' is always used as though it referred to a single island, due to both its geophysical and cultural unity. However, technically it is a group of several nearby islands surrounded by a single belt of coral reef. Only the two major islands are inhabited: the bigger one Banie, and the smaller one Teanu (or Tevai). Other, uninhabited islets in the Vanikoro group include Manieve, Nomianu and Nanunga. The total area of the Vanikoro group is . Population and languages The of Vanikoro consist of two different populations, who tend to live separately. The Melanesian majority, about 800 people, are the descendants of the original population of Vanikoro. As far as we know, they have been present on the island since Lapita times – about 3,200 years ago. A minorit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Cook
James Cook (7 November 1728Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to New Zealand and Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. This acclaim came at a crucial moment for the direction of British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-François De Galaup, Comte De Lapérouse
Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (; variant spelling: ''La Pérouse''; 23 August 17411788?), often called simply Lapérouse, was a French naval officer and explorer. Having enlisted at the age of 15, he had a successful naval career and in 1785 was appointed to lead a scientific expedition around the world. His ships stopped in Chile, Hawaii, Alaska, California, Mauritius, Reunion, Macau, Japan, Russia, and Australia, before wrecking on the reefs of Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands. Early career Jean-François de Galaup was born near Albi, France. His family was ennobled in 1558. Lapérouse studied in a Jesuit college, and joined the Navy as a Garde-Marine in Brest on 19 November 1756. In 1757 he was appointed to the French ship ''Célèbre'' and participated in a supply expedition to the fort of Louisbourg in New France. Lapérouse also took part in a second supply expedition in 1758 to Louisbourg, but as this was in the early years of the Seven Years' War, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean) and the surrounding coasts. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, and north of South America. Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region has more than 700 islands, islets, reefs and cays (see the list of Caribbean islands). Island arcs delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea: The Greater Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago on the north and the Lesser Antilles and the on the south and east (which includes the Leeward Antilles). They form the West Indies with the nearby Lucayan Archipelago ( the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands), which are considered to be part of the Caribbean despite not borde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocco. They are the southernmost of the autonomous communities of Spain. The islands have a population of 2.2 million people and they are the most populous special territory of the European Union. The seven main islands are (from largest to smallest in area) Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro. The archipelago includes many smaller islands and islets, including La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Oeste, and Roque del Este. It also includes a number of rocks, including those of Salmor, Fasnia, Bonanza, Garachico, and Anaga. In ancient times, the island chain was often referred to as "the Fortunate Isles". The Canary Islands are the southernmost regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Frigate Flore (1769)
''Flore'' was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, designed by Groignard. She is notable for her scientific voyage in 1771 and 1772, where she tested marine chronometers made by Berthoud, an important step in the History of longitude. Career On 29 October 1771, under Lieutenant Verdun de la Crenne, ''Flore'' departed Brest for a scientific voyage intended to test several Marine chronometers: Berthoud's n°8, Le Roy's watches A and S, and another called "petite ronde" which was not competing for the 1773 prize, as well as further chronometers by Arsandeaux and Biesta. Borda and Pingré were part of the expedition. ''Flore'' called Cadiz and Tenerriffe, before continuing on to Gorée, Fort Royal, Cap français, Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, and Copenhagen, before returning to Brest. ''Flore'' took part in the War of American Independence under Castellane-Majastre, ferrying letters between Toulon and America in April 1778. On 22 October 1781, ''Flore'' departed Toulon to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Charles De Borda
Jean-Charles, chevalier de Borda (4 May 1733 – 19 February 1799) was a French mathematician, physicist, and Navy officer. Biography Borda was born in the city of Dax to Jean‐Antoine de Borda and Jeanne‐Marie Thérèse de Lacroix. In 1756, Borda wrote ''Mémoire sur le mouvement des projectiles'', a product of his work as a military engineer. For that, he was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1764. Borda was a mariner and a scientist, spending time in the Caribbean testing out advances in chronometers. Between 1777 and 1778, he participated in the American Revolutionary War. In 1781, he was put in charge of several vessels in the French Navy. In 1782, he was captured by the English, and was returned to France shortly after. He returned as an engineer in the French Navy, making improvements to waterwheels and pumps. He was appointed as France's Inspector of Naval Shipbuilding in 1784, and with the assistance of the naval architect Jacques-Noël Sané in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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