Emmanuel Hard limestone

Emmanuel Hard limestone , born the February 15th 1826, with Cherbourg and died in the same city the March 5th 1900, is a Astronome, Botaniste and Explorateur French, which had also a local political career.

Biography

Emmanuel Liais was born with Cherbourg, in an easy family, dependant on the industry of Naval construction. Scientist amateur, it carries out a certain number of weather observations and writes some reports/ratios. One of them, written in 1852 will arrive at the astronomer François Arago. In 1854, it joined the Observatoire of Paris from which he will be assistant editor and assists Urbain the Glassmaker in the creation of a telegraphic network of meteorology.

It then leaves for the Brésil in order to observe the solar eclipse of September 7th 1858, country where there will remain finally almost 25 years. He becomes a close relation of the emperor Pierre II of Brazil and is named director of the imperial observatory of Rio de Janeiro from January to July 1871, then of 1874 with 1881.

Although this observatory was founded in 1827, it dealt up to that point mainly with the teaching of the pupils of the military academies. Hard limestone reorganizes it then to reorientate it towards research. It discovers there a Comet (C/1860 D1), the first with being discovered since the Brésil. It also delivers observations of the Planet Mars and puts forth the assumption that the spots of weak Albedo on the surface are related to vegetation rather than with the presence of water (it is known today that one the other of these two assumptions are inaccurate).

At the request of the emperor, it leads forwardings of exploration of the interior of the Brésil and studies the plants of the moved back areas, by sending a certain number of specimens in France. It then writes a work entitled Climats, geology, fauna and botanical geography of Brazil (Paris, Garnier Frères, 1872).

Starting from 1878, an argument bursts with his/her colleague Manoel Pereira Reis and, its position with the head of the observatory becoming less and less bearable, it ends up resigning with the beginning of the year 1881 to turn over in its birthplace.

He is then elected Maire of Cherbourg of 1884 with 1886, then of 1892 until his death in 1900 (he will be also general adviser for this same period). Also impassioned very early by botany (it belongs to the first members in 1854 of the Company of horticulture of Cherbourg), it makes build starting from 1878, a Botanical garden in its property of Cherbourg, property which it bequeaths to the city with its death, the garden always which can be visited nowadays, the house having become natural history museum of natural history.

It founded the National company of the natural science and mathematical from Cherbourg and it was received with the Académie of Rouen the March 23rd 1855.

A crater of Mars bears its name to pay homage to him.

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