Nicholas Halma (31 December 1755,
Sedan, France – 4 June 1828,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) was a French mathematician and translator.
He was educated at the College of Plessis, Paris, took
Holy orders
In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...
, and received the title of Abbé. In 1791, he became principal of Sedan College. When this school closed in 1793, he went to Paris and entered military service as surgeon. In 1794, he was appointed secretary to the
Polytechnic School. He held the chair of mathematics at the Prytanée of Paris, and then that of geography in the military school at
Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...
. As librarian of the
Empress Josephine and of the
École des Ponts et Chaussées, he was charged to instruct the empress in history and geography.
Under the
Bourbon Restoration, he was appointed curator at the
library of Sainte Geneviève and became a canon of
Notre Dame. In 1808, he was commissioned by the minister of the interior to continue the "History of France" of , and prepared the manuscript of two volumes. His most important work was the editing and the translation into Latin and French of
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
's ''
Almagest
The ''Almagest'' ( ) is a 2nd-century Greek mathematics, mathematical and Greek astronomy, astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Ptolemy, Claudius Ptolemy ( ) in Koine Greek. One of the most i ...
'' (Paris, 1813–16), a task undertaken at the instance of
Joseph Louis Lagrange
Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi Lagrangia[Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre
Jean Baptiste Joseph, chevalier Delambre (19 September 1749 – 19 August 1822) was a French mathematician, astronomer, historian of astronomy, and geodesist. He was also director of the Paris Observatory, and author of well-known books on the ...](_blank)
. He also translated the ''Commentaries'' of
Theon of Alexandria
Theon of Alexandria (; ; ) was a Greek scholar and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He edited and arranged Euclid's '' Elements'' and wrote commentaries on works by Euclid and Ptolemy. His daughter Hypatia also won fame as a mathema ...
(Paris, 1822–25).
Other works
*''Table pascale du moine Isaac Argyre'' (Paris, 1825);
*''Astrologie égyptienne'' (Paris, 1824);
*''Examen historique et critique des monuments astronomiques des anciens'' (Paris, 1830).
See also
*
List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics
Sources
;Attribution
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halma, Nicholas
1755 births
1828 deaths
People from Sedan, Ardennes
People from Sedan (sub-unit of France)
Greek–French translators
Catholic clergy scientists