Read Next
Discover
Dominique, comte de Cassini
French surveyor and astronomer
Quick Facts
- In full:
- Jacques-Dominique, comte de Cassini
- Also called:
- Cassini IV
- Born:
- June 30, 1748, Paris
- Died:
- October 18, 1845, Thury, France
- Also Known As:
- Jacques-Dominique, comte de Cassini
- Cassini IV
- Notable Family Members:
- father César-François Cassini de Thury
Dominique, comte de Cassini (born June 30, 1748, Paris—died October 18, 1845, Thury, France) was a French geodesist and astronomer who completed his father’s map of France, which was later used as the basis for the Atlas National (1791). The son of César-François Cassini de Thury, he succeeded him as director of the Observatoire de Paris in 1784, but the French Revolution interrupted his plans for restoring and reequipping the observatory. He briefly cooperated with the revolutionary government, but his monarchist sympathies prevailed, and he was denounced and arrested. After some months in prison he withdrew to Thury in 1794. Later, Napoleon I made him a senator and count.