Log In

Pierre Herigone Edit Profile

Astronomer mathematician

Pierre Hérigone was a French mathematician and astronomer.

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.

Membership

Members of this committee included Étienne Pascal and Claude Mydorge.