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Establishment of the Paris Observatory

Type Event Region Europe Time 1667

Founded in Paris from 1667 under Colbert, the Paris Observatory appointed Giovanni Cassini first director in 1671 and became one of Europe's earliest…

Timeline

  1. 1672Paris · FranceLouis XIV approved building a national observatory on the south bank of the Seine, coordinated by Colbert, to serve navigation, surveying, and calendar reform; the site lay around present-day Boulevard René Descartes in the southern suburbs of Paris.
  2. 1672–1680Paris Observatory · ParisAstronomer Jean Picard served as first director, overseeing star catalogue compilation and trigonometric surveying; his 1671–1672 measurement of the meridian arc provided key data for Newton's verification of universal gravitation.

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