Felipe Rojas
Period: 4 Astronomy
October 14 2013
Jean Picard
Jean Picard was born on July 21 1620 in La Fleche, France and died on July 12 1682. He was actually most famous for being able to calculate the length of a degree of a meridian. He used his method and eventually was able to estimate the size of earth. He was very accurate in his measurments compared to the actual size of earth. Jeans calculations were .44% off from current calculations. For Jean's time this is quite a genuine accomplishment knowing that at his time there was not as many tools as there are now to calculate such things. This very calculating is what other extremely famous astronomers used to help them find other answers. For example, the theory of gravitation made by sir Isaac Newton was actually somewhat supported by Jean Picards calculations. Sir Isaac Newton took this information into account when developing his brilliant theory. Jean Picard was very in contact with other famous astronomers. Such as the one and the only Tycho Brahe. Jean Picard visited Tycho Brahe at his obervatory in an island next to Sweden. Jean helped and advised Tycho in exact locations of certain objects in space. Jean collaborated his ideas with Tycho's in order to have a more accurate location of things in space. Jean Picard made many observations on his own as well as even the first observation of barometric light. By using many of Tycho's observations Jean Picard became the writer as well as the editor of “Knowledge of Time and the Celestial Motions”. Jean Picard was also truly a genius when it came to telescopes. He managed to attach cross wires to quadrants in telescopes as well as create a margin of error of only an astonishing 10 seconds!!! Not only did he have knowledge but he also gave it. Jean Picard became a teacher at the University of Paris in 1650.
Jean Picard played a strong role in early astronomy as well as current. Jean Picard's work aided Isaac Newton in his development of his theory. Jean also aided Tycho Brahe in his observations of celestial objects. Jean Picard played a huge role in the early development of the telescope when he put cross wires in Quadrants and lowered the margin of error. Jean Picard is truly a genius in his field and is an important figure in Astronomy.
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