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Astro*Dictionary by Michael Erlewine

 

 

 

 

1 article for "Gassendi, Pierre"

Gassendi, Pierre [Astro*Index]

(ga-sahn-dee')

(1592-1655) French philosopher and astronomer. Born at Champtercier, Provence; died at Paris.

He gave the aurora borealis its name, and was first to observe a planetary transit across the disk of the Sun. Mercury, in 1631, transited the Sun's disk within 5 hours of the time predicted by Kepler. He published biographies of Regiomontanus, Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe.

See also:
♦ Aurora Borealis

 

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