Herschel's meeting with Napoleon. Pages from a handwritten account authored by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822), of his

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Herschel's meeting with Napoleon. Pages from a handwritten account authored by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822), of his meeting with Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), together with the French mathematician and astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827). This meeting took place in Paris, France, in 1802. Napoleon at the time styled himself \First Consul\", declaring himself Emperor of France in 1804. The account mentions the building of a canal in France, Herschel's explanation of the working of the heavens to Napoleon, and Napoleon's argument with Laplace, including Napoleon's famous quote asking about the origin of the universe: \"Who is the author of all this?\""

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Size: 6650px × 5278px
Photo credit: © ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1, 1800s, 1802, 19th, account, archives, artwork, astronomical, astronomy, author, biographical, black--white, bonaparte, book, building, canal, century, consul, emperor, english, europe, european, france, french, german-born, handwritten, herschel, historical, history, illustration, laplace, letter, meeting, memoir, monochrome, napoleon, page, paris, pierre, pierre-simon, research, science, simon, story, title, william