Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Books and Arts
Nature 457, 33 (1 January 2009) | doi:10.1038/457033a; Published online 31 December 2008
Open Innovation Challenges
- More Challenges
- Powered by:
nature jobs
Professor of Experimental Virology (W3)
- University Hospital Jena, Institute of Virology and Antivirale Therapy
- Jena, Germany
Tenure-track Faculty Positions
- University of Michigan
- Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Year of astronomy: Hidden treasures: the Paris Observatory
Alison Abbott1
Top of page
Abstract
Giovanni Domenico Cassini helped to create an institution that pinpointed Neptune, showed that light had a finite speed — and even mapped France, explains Alison Abbott.
Giovanni Domenico Cassini was a mathematical genius with finely tuned social skills, a quick wit and a habit of enthralling powerful political figures. In 1650, when Cassini was just 25, the Pope appointed him professor of astronomy at his university in Bologna, Italy.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
