![]() Amélie reduced the observations that her husband was making and the work she put into that task was quite outstanding, for example in one year she reduced 12000 observations, each single reduction requiring around 36 computations.ĭespite the remarkable amount of work contributed by Amélie, she was not listed as an author on any of the publications to which she contributed, even those which consisted mostly of tables she had calculated. In has first three months he observed 2, 500 stars and the following year more than 8, 000. In 1789, the year after Amélie married Michel Lefrançois, he became the director of the observatory of the École Militaire, succeeding Jérôme Lalande in that role. In 1799 she published a catalogue of ten thousand stars, reduced and calculated. These tables were printed in 1791 by the order of the National Assembly. She has published tables for finding the time at sea by altitude of the sun and stars. They are incorporated in my 'Abrégé de Navigation.' She is one of the rare women who have written scientific books. She has reduced the observations of ten thousand stars, and prepared a work of three hundred pages of horary tables - an immense work for her age and sex. My niece aids her husband in his observations and draws conclusions from them by calculation. Lalande wrote the following description of Amélie in his work Bibliographie Astronomique Ⓣ ( Astronomical Bibliography ) (Paris, 1803):. Amélie and Michel were collaborating before their marriage Michel was an expert observer and Amélie undertook large amounts of computational work which she was able to do with great accuracy and speed. Before she married Michel, Amélie Harlay was also being taught astronomy techniques by Lalande, who quickly realised that Amélie was talented in learning mathematical techniques. In 1782 Michel had his first astronomy paper published, describing his observation of a total lunar eclipse. Jérôme Lalande brought Michel to Paris after the summer vacation of 1780 and taught him astronomy, particularly the techniques of telescopic observation. Jérôme Lalande referred to Michel and Amélie as his nephew and niece. On 27 September 1788 she married Michel Jean Jérôme Lefrançais de Lalande (1766- 1839), the son of the Jean Lefrançois, who was the younger cousin of Jérôme Lalande, and his wife Jeanne Jourdan. ![]() We know nothing of her childhood and education, and this lack of information may have contributed to the belief that she was Lalande's illegitimate daughter. She was the daughter of Jean François Harlay (born 1730) and Anne Elisabeth Cany (born 1744) who were both teachers in Paris. This must have arisen from the fact that on certain occasions, Lalande affectionately called her "my daughter." Recent research (see, for example, ), however, has shown that this is not true. Biography It has been "known" since the 1860s that Amélie Harlay was the illegitimate daughter of the astronomer Joseph-Jérôme Lefrançais de Lalande.
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