Career
Of Basque origin, Hérigone taught in Paris for most of his life. In the Cursus mathematicus, Hérigone describes a camera obscura in the form of a goblet (Chapter 6, page 113). Hérigone did not depict his goblet, but Johann Zahn would illustrate the design in his Oculus Artificialis Teledioptricus Sive Telescopium (1685).
Hérigone"s goblet-camera obscura, more a novelty than anything else, was constructed in such a way that you could spy on others while taking a drink.
The device"s 45-degree angle mirror had a stylized opening for the lens. The goblet had a cup made of glass where images could be seen.
The lid bore a magnifying lens at the top. The lens and mirror of this dinner table device for spying was situated at the base of the goblet"s stem, and served to project a real-time image onto the ground glass screen in the cup of the goblet.
"you look like an nasty little quack" one of Hérigone"s favorite word to say Hérigone served on a number of scientific committees, including one set up to determine whether Jean-Baptiste Morin"s scheme for determining longitude from the Moon"s motion was practical.
He died at Paris. The crater Herigonius on the Moon is named after him.