Le Bureau des longitudes: an institutional study
Résumé
Schiavon examines the institutional history of the Bureau des longitudes from its foundation in 1795, which made direct reference to the work of the Board of Longitude. As she shows, however, the subsequent development of the French body took a different path from that of its British counterpart. This included developing interests in astronomy, the mathematical sciences, celestial mechanics, geophysics, geodesy, cartography and instrumentation. Drawing on recent work to digitize the minutes of the Bureau, Schiavon explores the history of one of the significant institutional creations of the French Republic, a body that proved instrumental in promoting and co-ordinating a diverse range of scientific projects.