ASTRONOMER

Jean-Louis Pons

1761 - 1831

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Jean-Louis Pons (24 December 1761 – 14 October 1831) was a French astronomer. Despite humble beginnings and being self-taught, he went on to become the greatest visual comet discoverer of all time: between 1801 and 1827 Pons discovered thirty-seven comets, more than any other person in history. Pons worked at three observatories in his career, Marseille Observatory, where he was also trained, a short-lived observatory at Royal Park La Marlia in Tuscany, and finally at an observatory in Florence. Pons's work supported some famous comet recoveries of the 19th century, including Encke's Comet and Crommelin's Comet. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Jean-Louis Pons is the 215th most popular astronomer (up from 269th in 2019), the 2,357th most popular biography from France (up from 3,227th in 2019) and the 18th most popular French Astronomer.

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Among ASTRONOMERS

Among astronomers, Jean-Louis Pons ranks 215 out of 644. Before him are John Bevis, Seth Barnes Nicholson, Sergey Belyavsky, Francis Baily, Erasmus Reinhold, and Bengt Strömgren. After him are George Ellery Hale, Fred Lawrence Whipple, Martin Schwarzschild, Adalbert Krueger, Heinrich Christian Schumacher, and Henri Debehogne.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1761, Jean-Louis Pons ranks 20. Before him are Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, Sineperver Sultan, Louis-Léopold Boilly, Antoine Barnave, Marguerite Gérard, and Marie Harel. After him are John Moore, August Batsch, Marie-Gabrielle Capet, Blasius Merrem, François Hanriot, and Antonín Vranický. Among people deceased in 1831, Jean-Louis Pons ranks 28. Before him are Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, Thomas Johann Seebeck, Henri Grégoire, Hans Karl von Diebitsch, Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein, and Princess Louise of Denmark. After him are Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, James Hoban, Sébastien Érard, Ryōkan, Vasily Golovnin, and Jedediah Smith.

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Others Deceased in 1831

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In France

Among people born in France, Jean-Louis Pons ranks 2,357 out of 6,770. Before him are Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1844), Michel de l'Hôpital (1505), François Étienne de Kellermann (1770), Jean-Baptiste Charcot (1867), Eléonore Denuelle de La Plaigne (1787), and Sarah Kofman (1934). After him are Olivier Assayas (1955), Micheline Presle (1922), Antoine Gombaud (1607), Menasseh Ben Israel (1604), Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec (1734), and Pierre Gaspard Chaumette (1763).

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Among ASTRONOMERS In France

Among astronomers born in France, Jean-Louis Pons ranks 18. Before him are Joseph-Nicolas Delisle (1688), Alphonse Borrelly (1842), Nicole-Reine Lepaute (1723), Guillaume Bigourdan (1851), Jean Picard (1620), and Félix Tisserand (1845). After him are Henri Joseph Anastase Perrotin (1845), Alexis Bouvard (1767), Jérôme Eugène Coggia (1849), César-François Cassini de Thury (1714), Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent (1823), and Benjamin Baillaud (1848).

French born Astronomers

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