Edmond Modeste Lescarbault (1814,
Châteaudun
Châteaudun () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It was the site of the Battle of Châteaudun during the Franco-Prussian War.
Geography
Châteaudun is located about 45 ...
– 1894,
Orgères-en-Beauce), was a French medical doctor and an amateur
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
, best remembered for his 1859 supposed observation of the non-existent planet
Vulcan.
He graduated and obtained his diploma from the University of Paris in 1848. He then started to work as a doctor in
Orgères-en-Beauce and worked there until 1872 (the street where he worked is now named after him). A keen astronomer, he built an observatory with a 3.75 inches (95 mm)
refractor
A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope design was originally used in spyglasses and ...
by his house and began correspondence with various scientific societies.
On 26 March 1859 he saw a small object
transiting the
Sun and having heard of
Le Verrier's theory of an intramercurial planet named Vulcan, he wrote a letter to the astronomer and was consequently visited by him in December 1859. Le Verrier announced the discovery on 2 January 1860. Lescarbault became Chevalier of the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
and was invited to appear before numerous learned societies. Most likely what he had seen was not Vulcan but a sunspot.
His manuscripts, including correspondence with
Camille Flammarion, are kept in the Bibliothèque Municipale in Châteaudun. He died in 1894.
See also
*
Vulcan (hypothetical planet)
Vulcan () was a proposed planet that some pre-20th century astronomers thought existed in an orbit between Mercury (planet), Mercury and the Sun. Speculation about, and even purported observations of, intermercurial bodies or planets date back t ...
*
Urbain Le Verrier
References
External links
About E. M. Lescarbault, with photos, in French
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lescarbault, Edmond Modeste
19th-century French astronomers
1814 births
1894 deaths
Knights of the Legion of Honour
People from Châteaudun