Which 18th century astronomer lost his job, his possessions, his wife and was declared legally dead after a scientific mission that took several years and was a complete failure?

TabbyTom

Guillaume Le Gentil. http://timesfoundation.indiatimes.com/articleshow/726051.cms Jun 05 05, 2:51 AM

gmackematix

Yay TT. Then, the transit of Venus was used to find the distance between the Earth and the Sun and so find the scale of the solar system. For the Venus transit in 2004, measuring the dip in the Sun's light as a planet passed in front of us may help us determine if similar dips in light from stars are due to extrasolar planets. Jun 05 05, 4:43 PM

Arpeggionist

Of course, back then people were using the Venus transit to measure the distance from Earth to the sun. And for some reason (since there was no media to spend the money on perhaps), the French wanted to have as many accounts of the transit from as many far away places on the globe as they could think of. Which is why people like Guillaume le Gentil was doomed to fail, while the English Captain Cook succeeded. Jun 06 05, 1:11 AM

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