Astro*Dictionary by Michael Erlewine
1 article for "Gassendi, Pierre"
Gassendi, Pierre [Astro*Index](ga-sahn-dee')
(1592-1655) French philosopher and astronomer. Born at Champtercier, Provence; died at Paris.
He gave the aurora borealis its name, and was first to observe a planetary transit across the disk of the Sun. Mercury, in 1631, transited the Sun's disk within 5 hours of the time predicted by Kepler. He published biographies of Regiomontanus, Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe.
See also:
♦ Aurora Borealis
Astro*Index Copyright © 1997 Michael Erlewine