Annales du Bureau des longitudes

(1877-1949)

MARTINA SCHIAVON

L.H.S.P. – Archives Henri Poincaré (UMR 7117 – CNRS) Université de Lorraine (France)

Circulating Mathematics via Journals: The Rise of Internationalisation 1850-1920

Conference at the Mittag-Leffler Institute, Wednesday, 22 June 2016

Djursholm

Key elements • Titles : 1877 : Annales du Bureau des longitudes et de l’observatoire astronomique de Montsouris

1882 Annales du Bureau des longitudes : travaux faits à l’observatoire astronomique de Montsouris (section navale) et mémoires diverses

>1911 Annales du Bureau des longitudes

1949 in collaboration with the CNRS

• Publisher (and Redaction committee) : Bureau des longitudes

Associated publisher : Ministère de la Marine

• Printer : Jean-Albert Gauthier-

Villars

• Publication : 1877 – 1949

(13th numbers) Digitized © Gallica

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Plan • Why the Annales ?

• Testing a periodization - crossing various elements on the diffusion of the Annales

• Why the end ?

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Plan • Why the Annales ?

• Testing a periodization - crossing various elements on the diffusion of the Annales

• Why the end ?

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Reading the Bureau des longitudes minutes (1877-1878)

« Les procès-verbaux du Bureau des longitudes.

Un patrimoine numérisé (1795-1932) » http://bdl.ahp-numerique.fr/

• Minute of the 24th Mai 1876: « Il est donné lecture au bureau d'une lettre de monsieur le ministre de la marine accordant une subvention annuelle de deux mille francs pour la publication dans les annales du bureau des observations faites par les officiers de marine attachés à l'observatoire de MontSouris ». (©“Bureau des Longitudes - Séance du mercredi 24 mai 1876”, Les procès-verbaux du Bureau des longitudes , consulté le 13 juin 2016, http://purl.oclc.org/net/bdl/items/show/3269).

• Minute of the 31 January 1877: « Monsieur Yvon Villarceau demande que d'après une décision prise l'année dernière le bureau [barré : de] arrête aujourd'hui les mémoires à insérer dans la Connaissance des Temps pour 1879. Il est répondu que par des décisions ultérieures du bureau il a été convenu que les mémoires et rapports insérés autrefois dans la Connaissance des Temps, sous le titre d'additions, n'y figurerait plus à cause de l'ampleur que cela donnait au volumes ; mais formeraient l'objet d'une publication spéciale appelée Annales du bureau des Longitudes. » (©“Bureau des Longitudes - Séance du mercredi 31 janvier 1877”, Les procès-verbaux du Bureau des longitudes , consulté le 13 juin 2016, http://purl.oclc.org/net/bdl/items/show/3307).

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On the Bureau des longitudes

• From 1795, the Bureau des longitudes is charged of the publication of the Annuaire du Bureau des longitudes and of the Connaissance des temps.

• The Annales are published to report on the work of the Montsouris observatory (established from 1877 at Monstouris Park) : the Bureau has a role of « principal publisher » …

• The Annales are different from the Annuaire :

Annuaire : to be published each year, with a calendar and the abstract of the events of the precedent year, with various commercial, science, State, etc. information.

• There are many Annales published at the middle of the 19th Century : see the minutes : Annales de mathématiques de M. …; Annales

hydrographiques; Annales de l’observatoire ...; Annales maritimes et coloniales ; Annales de physique et de météorologie de l’observatoire ...; Annales de la société astronomique …

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The Ministère de la Marine (principally) defrayed for the Annales • 24/05/1876 : Navy accorded 1000 F to publish the observation

made in the practical astronomical school of Montsouris Park

• 14/02/1877 : Urgency to make the Connaissance des temps lighter : i.e. Laplace, Lagrange, Poisson, Liouville, Poinsot, Le Verrier memories are necessary to celebrate the journal but have no direct relation with the practical work on board and made “heavy the CDT”

• 28/03/1877 : to edify the Montsouris observatory Loewy and Mouchez reported that “the Ministère de la Marine provides the Bureau” of 2200 F ; the municipality of Paris an annual grant of 3000 F (more that 10.000 F to establish the Montsouris observatory).

• 11/04/1877 : Faye “thanks the president of the municipal counsel [Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, father of his son-in], for his generosity in favor of the observatory of Montsouris Park”…

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The observatory at Montsouris Park (1875-1914)

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Pavillon Bey (Exposition universelle 1876) : from 1871 is Palais du Bardo (meteo)

The BDL wants its astronomical laboratory (after 1854). The Observatory is linked to the Bureau from 1874 until 1886. M

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Plan • Why the Annales ?

• Testing a periodization - crossing various elements on the diffusion of the Annales

• Why the end ?

• Some Conclusions

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ANNALES DU BUREAU DES LONGITUDES NUMBERS OF PUBLICATION : 13 (ON 72 YEARS OF EXISTENCE)

Source © Gallica

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What about the publisher ? • Jean-Albert Gauthier-Villars (1828-1898), ancient pupil of the Ecole

polytechnique, bought in 1864 the editorial house “Bachelier” (then Mallet-Bachelier) founded in 1790 by Jean Marie Courcier.

• The publisher has been recognized by the Bureau des longitudes as the official for the Connaissance des temps and of the Annuaire from 1795. Albert-Paul Gauthier-Villars (1861-1918), ancient pupil of the Ecole polytechnique and the son of Jean-Albert, took the succession.

• Gauthier-Villars was the official publisher for “French mathematical science” (Annales scientifiques de l’Ecole normale supérieure - since 1864, Bulletin des sciences mathématiques - since 1870, Bulletin de la Société mathématique de France -since 1873).

• The minutes of the Bureau des longitudes reported about the negotiation between Gauthier-Villars and its members (Faye, Loewy, Mouchez, Poincaré, Janssen…) : the discussion about the edition of the CDT, the Annuaire and the Annales or the printer workers strake of July 1878 (work in progress…)

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Making a database

1) Articles are regrouped in “sections” (i.e. Travaux de l’observatoire, Rapports, Mémoires..). The numeration starts again at each section, adding to the number a letter (i.e. page A.1-A.32; B.1 etc.). There is no sense to use the « Table des matières » to make a database : an Report may be of 270 pages – a whole number (see for instance, the Report on the transit of Venus in front of the Sun or the Report on an international meeting…). In these conditions one may asked “if” and “which” kind of typesetting and layout may do Gauthier-Villars …

2) I take the name of the principal author of the paper (i.e. : during the observation of the transit of Venus in front of the Sun, many people participated to the mission – observers, computers, teachers ... I take the names of the “responsible” (chef) of the expedition and of the principal observers).

3) Many “unknown authors” : i.e. computers and mariners who have no right to enter into the “official” biographical encyclopedias of astronomers….

4) Typical professions of authors : computer, observer, mathematician-astronomer, churchmen, …

5) I crossed the entries with the “Biographies of astronomers” by Philippe Veron, Biographical encyclopedia of astronomers (Springer), National archives (i.e. series F 17, “Leonore” - the Légion d’honneur folders, Guy Boistel publications on the Connaissance des temps, other web database such as the Minutes of the Bureau des longitudes, the Annuaire du Bureau des longitudes on Gallica), …

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The database

• ~ 104 authors

• A look to theirs formation :

• Military (or Navy) : 41 (39%)

• Civil engineer : 2

• Ph.D. : 36 (35%)

• ENS only : 4

• Career of astronomer : 11 (10%)

• Jesuit or churchmen : 3

• Unknown …

• Fault : astronomer – mathematician or military or “career of astronomer” ?

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Testing a periodization :

1. 1887-1889 : 35 articles (3 numbers) Principal Content : Computer astronomy (« Réduction des observations des passages », « Détermination d’ascension droite, de latitude » and « Tables de réduction méridienne»); Earth-science (« Différence des longitudes », « magnetic measurement ») ; Travaux l’observatoire

2. 1890-1910 : 14 articles (3 numbers) Principal content : Astronomy (computation, observation of astronomical events, tables) ; Earth-science (magnetism, meteorology, longitude with telegraph and wireless, technical questions, distribution of hour, seismography) ; Decimalization of time.

3. 1911-1919 : 40 articles (4 numbers) Principal content : astronomy ; earth-science (+ distribution and international conference on time, magnetism, radio naval equipment)

4. 1920-1949 : 10 articles (3 numbers) Principal content : astronomy ; earth-science (+theory of tides, celestial mechanic) ; paper of Hamy

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1882, Yvon-Villarceau Antoine

1833, Conservatoire musique de Paris, 1837, pupil of the Ecole centrale, self-educated in mathematic applied to astronomy, enter the Parisian Observatory with Arago in 1846….

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1890, Ossian Bonnet

1838 enters the Ecole Polytechnique, then Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées, he renounces to teach mathematic ; 1852 Ph.D. at the Sorbonne (Sur le développement des fonctions en séries ordonnées) ; 1871 he is director of studies at X ; 1878 he’s removed from his poste and he succeeded Le Verrier in the chair of physical astronomy (PV).

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1933, Maurice Hamy, only ‘astronomer’?

« Licence de mathématiques et de physique » at the Sorbonne, admitted as

pupil astronomer in 1884…astronomer in 1904 (after the death of

Callandreau, his brother-in-law). Ph.D. on the mathematical theory of

celestial figures (“Étude sur la figure des corps célestes”)…then

researches on the temperature variations in astronomical

instruments….interferometry…

?

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Military (unknown) authors :

• 1877, Berry François-Calixte (Ecole navale, Vessel Lieutenant, computer, memory on occultation)

• 1883, Barnaud Léon (all the steps to amiral)

• 1877,.. Octave de Bernardières (Ecole navale)

• Aubert, Cornu-Gentil, Delaplane, Delpech, Le Clerc, Painlhés, Parfait, Winter …..

• Anatole Bouquet de la Grye, Ludovic Driencourt, Louis Favé ….

Foreign authors • 1877, Maurice Loewy (Polytechnical School in Vienna, he couldn’t teach because juif, Littrow contacted Le Verrier, assistant in 1860, adjoin

astronomer in 1861, titular in 1866, naturalized in 1869, inventor of the coudé equatorial (1872)…director of the CDT…)

• 1877, Oppolzer, Theodor von Ritter (born in Czech Republic, then received a Medical degree in 1865; his parents supported his interests by financing a private observatory outside Vienna; he worked with Maurice Loewy and Edmund Weiss, ..worked on geodesy, director of the Geodetic Survey in Austria…)

• 1911, Rodolph Radau (1852, Konisberg University, Ph.D. - in latin- on celestial mechanic; 1859 meet D’Abbadie and worked on geodesy, astronomical observation with him, worked with Delaunay on Lunar tables, naturalized in 1874… 1864 redactor of the Revue de deux mondes during 40 years; editeur of the CDT from 1908 to 1911…)

• 1913, Tsatsopoulos Georges (Ph.D. maths in Athens, then stage at Parisian Observatory, 1908-1911, then longitude computations…)

• 1913, Lewis, Boss, (father of the astronomer Benjamin) Dartmouth College Observatory, United States Naval Observatory, Survey commission to establish the boundary separating Canada and the Unites States…director of the Dudley observatory, Lalande price (1911)…

• 1933, Stoyko, Nicolas (from Odessa, bachelor degree in 1916, mobilized in the Russian army, certified as agrégé de mathématiques in 1920; teacher in Bulgaria, then moved to France in 1923 after a coup d’Etat; in 1924 he was given a position at the Bureau international de l’Heure where he spent the remainder of his career).

Astronomer career

• Antoine, Yvon-Villarceau

• Louis, Montangerand

• Aimable, Gallot…

And many others

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Focusing on the creation (first period 1877-1889)

Dates : • 1877 : creation Technical innovations: • 1837 : first electric telegraph • 1830-1880 : development of train network in France • >1865 : cable network • 1876 : first telephone Key elements on the creation of the Annales • Linked with the « laboratory-observatory » of this small academy, with a grant

(personnel and money) by the Ministère de la Marine. • Essential the role of this academy : the Bureau des longitudes provided the

network, the material and expert supplies. • The Bureau has a “lobby” : to persuade the government that science help the

development of the society (i.e. the task of giving a public lecture on astronomy …).

• Professionalization of astronomer : 31 October 1899 (AN F 173752) : the Observatory became an establishment of the University (it belongs to the University, it has a budget from the University, the Rector is the director of the Observatory)… professionalization of the astronomer…

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Role of an academy and its members

From an anonymous (Faye?) Report to the Minister of 1869 : The « école d’astronomie pratique » ?

• In appearance : to form mariners (who payed for it) by the development of « positional astronomy » which has a direct implication in the navy and also in international competition.

• In practice, the school served to educate astronomers • “France lacked of astronomers : we’ll have to recruit them abroad(such us

under Louis XIV with Giovanni Cassini)” • The problem is the lack of formation : Le Verrier engaged mathematicians

whose age is 40 years : “it’s too late to become an astronomer”

« A special observatory given to the Bureau des longitudes might answer to the first need of France (astronomers) » The Introduction to the Annales (1877) : • Adapting the discourse to military and navy needs, and also to the

proposal to join the International geodetic association (Mittel Europaïsche Gradmessung) : need to standardize the protocol of ground measurements, to be able to use the same instrument and to have the same formation. The government should do this ….but not until 1889.

• An effect of the Annales was to spread usefulness of positional astronomy. However, thanks to the Bureau and its practitioners, positional astronomy quickly evolved (via geodesy) in physical astronomy and earth sciences.

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Circulation • 19/12/1877 : Jean-Albert Gauthier-Villars addressed to the Bureau a (very

expensive) sample of the Annales : the Bureau established to publish only 300 copies at a price of 30 F/copy.

• The members of the Bureau des longitudes provided the circulation of the Annales : the first number is adressed to

• the perpetual secretary of the Académie des sciences

• each member of the Académie des sciences

• the Ministère de l’instruction publique (30 copies) in sort to distribute it among the establishments of superior education “concerned with astronomy”

• the Navy minister (20 copies) for the same reason;

• The same year, Albert Lancastre, meteorologist at the Bruxelles Observatory, requests to exchange a copy of the Annales with his own Annales de l’Observatoire météorologique Bruxelles …

• ...each minutes of the Bureau des longitudes testified of the barter transaction (troc) of its publications with various (international) scientific institutions. For

instance, in 1878, the Annales were sent to the Société de géographie.

• What about the BDL library ? (work in progress)

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About the Library of the Bureau des longitudes

• 91 books and journals (1823-1930) lost between the Paris Observatory and the Bureau des longitudes • About 2000 titles …inventoried by M.

Chapront-Touzé in 1994 : 16e siècle : Cypriano Leovitio Calculus Ephemeridum LI Annorum Numeratus ad Meridianum Inclytae Imperalis Augustae Vindelicorum

17e siècle : Johannis Hevelii Description Cometae (1666); Epistolae II 51654); Prodromus Cometicus Quo Historia Cometae (1665)

18e siècle : Davide Gregorio M. D., Astronomiae Physicae et Geometricae Elementa Oxionae (1702)

…. Many foreign journals (from Italy, Spain, Germany, USA, Russian, …. And all over the world)

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Faye (1878) :

The Annales are « a striking testimony of the interest that ours officers have for Science and the services they can render to it, while becoming familiar with the useful applications to their noble career ».

From its separation of the Parisian Observatory, the members of the Bureau des longitudes have realized that the specificity of their institution was to dispose of a “population of collaborators” able to spread science (and mathematic) and to show how this is useful for the whole society. (Note that navy and military officers had a common formation at the Ecole polytechnique).

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Work in progress

• The mariners detached to the Observatory increased the spread of the Annales and this journal reports principally on their work (section navale).

• What about the « artillery » equivalent at the same period ? Crossing the :

• « Mémorial du Dépôt général de la Guerre » (1802…)

• « Mémorial du Service géographique de l’armée (> 1887).

• « Revue d’artillerie » (>1872),

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Eclipse of 30 August 1905 Astronomical installation (with Mme Lebeuf)

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Plan • Why the Annales ?

• Testing a periodization - crossing various elements on the diffusion of the Annales

• Why the end ?

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Why the end (but also why the creation…) ? An irregular publication ? • From the end of the 19th Century : Increasing competition with the Bulletins of the provincial

observatories • The professionalization and specification of the astronomer (and mathematician) career at the

university… A question of funding? • The Bureau spent 10.000 F in 1877 for the publication of the Annales • Financial raison : Naval and War ministers stop theirs grants Change in policy ? • 1890 : separation of the minister of Navy and Colony (reduced the budget) ; 1905-1912 : hydrographical

schools under the Minister of Trade and Commerce (progressive disengagement of the Navy Minister in scientific education of mariners…)

• New technics for navigation and a question about the kind of formation in the professional Ecole navale : apprenticeship versus theory and mathematic ?

Change in social taste ? • End of “passion” for astronomy : cheaper instruments, spread and specialization of formation,

increasing of vulgarization (one can provide his self-acknowledge) Change in the administration (and the role) of an institution (i.e. less authority of the members of the Bureau) ? • The Bureau des longitudes had to compete with the CNRS (created in 1939, its veritable development

begins after the Second war victory, when it orients itself in fundamental research) • The Bureau was also a technical academy but has lost its privilege in applied research : from 1945, the

ORSTOM – Institut français de recherche scientifique pour le développement en coopération – is specialized in overseas research ; the CNET – Centre national d’études des télécommunications - ; the CEA – Commissariat à l’énergie atomique)…. But the Bureau des longitudes still exists !

From a Minute of 1878 : CDT (1871-1877) costs 220.424,27 F (i.e. 36.000 F/year). In contrast with the Nautical Almanac & Astronomical Ephemeris : 70.000 F/year….

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Selected bibliography

• G. Boistel, L’observatoire de la Marine et du Bureau des longitudes au Parc Montsouris, 1875-1914, Edité ed., 2010.

• G. Boistel, « Un bréviaire pour les astronomes et les marins : la Connaissance des temps et les calculateurs du Bureau des longitudes, de Lalande à Loewy (1772-1907) », ARIHS, 2014.

• C. Charle, Discordance des temps. Une brève histoire de la modernité, A. Colin, 2011.

• C. Christen, « Les leçons et traités d’astronomie populaire dans le premier XIXe siècle », Romantisme, 166, 2014.

• T. Hockey, V. Trimble, T. R. Williams, Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer, 2007.

• Minutes of the Bureau des longitudes (transcripted by J. Muller)

• M. Schiavon, "Le Bureau des longitudes: an institutional study", in R. Dunn & R. Higgitt (eds.), Navigational Enterprises in Europe and its Empires, 1730-1850, Palgrave-MacMillan, 2015.

• P. Veron, Dictionnaire biographique d’astronomes, unpublished.

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