Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men (Dodo Press)

Francois Jean Dominique Arago (1786-1853) was a French Catalan mathematician, physicist, astronomer and politician.

He was sent to the municipal college of Perpignan, where he began to study mathematics in preparation for the entrance examination of the polytechnic school.

In 1804 he received the appointment of secretary to the Paris Observatory.

He now became acquainted with Pierre-Simon Laplace, and through his influence was commissioned, with Jean-Baptiste Biot, to complete the meridianal measurements which had been begun by J.

B. J. Delambre. Biot returned to Paris after they had determined the latitude of Formentera, the southernmost point to which they were to carry the survey.

Arago continued the work until 1809, his purpose being to measure a meridian arc in order to determine the exact length of a metre.

Arago's earliest physical researches were on the pressure of steam at different temperatures, and the velocity of sound, 1818 to 1822.

His magnetic observations mostly took place from 1823 to 1826.

His works include: Popular Astronomy (1855) and Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men (1859).