Power of Prediction — Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier
Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier pinpointed the location of an as-yet-undiscovered planet, Neptune, through dint of calculation. Irregularities in the path followed by Uranus’ orbit, Neptune’s neighbor in the solar system, suggested the influence of a mysterious force. Le Verrier guessed that that force was the gravitational pull of an undiscovered planet, and he set himself to the task of calculating where it would be found. On the day that he learned of Le Verrier’s calculations, an astronomer at the Berlin Observatory spotted Neptune very close to its predicted position. This was a coup for French science, which built its reputation in the early 19th century on mastery of theory and calculation.
In 1854, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte appointed Le Verrier Director of the Paris Observatory. Under Le Verrier the work of the Observatory expanded into new areas of research. Le Verrier was keen to set up the world’s first weather forecasting service, using the electric telegraph to collect observations from all over Europe. Colleagues were concerned that this new venture would distract from the Observatory’s core astronomical research activities, and besides it was foolish for anyone to believe that they could predict the weather. But, the potential benefits of forecasting the arrival of destructive storms were too good to pass up. Le Verrier’s reputation as the discoverer of Neptune inspired needed confidence, and the Observatory’s new weather service began distributing storm warnings in Europe in 1863.
Urbain le Verrier, astronomer, is one of the 72 scientists and engineers named on the Eiffel Tower.
