Abstract
This publication gathers the proceedings of a symposium held in January 2022 to conclude the ANR (Agence nationale de la recherche) project ‘Le Bureau des Longitudes (1795-1932) - De la Révolution française à la Troisième république’ which had began in 2016. Thus, this book offers a first opportunity to assess this vast research programme. In addition, it outlines new perspectives on the topics of investigation, based on the knowledge accumulated and the research tools developed around the minutes of the Bureau de longitudes. Founded in 1795, this institution provided a site of expertise and advice for the State, administered French science and technology and served as its voice on the international scene. The Bureau de longitudes also played a leading role in the organization and development of French astronomy and celestial mechanics.
This work is part of a series of publication related to the ANR project on Bureau des longitudes. Earlier volumes include Pour une histoire du Bureau des longitudes (1795-1932), published in 2017, and Le Bureau des longitudes au prisme de ses procès-verbaux (1795-1932) in 2021, which focuses on the missions of the institution, its members and the networks in which it is involved. Le Bureau des longitudes en société (1795-1932) examines the role of the Bureau des longitudes in social, economic and cultural structures.
The present volume is organized in three parts: material life and prosopography of the Bureau des longitudes; fields of scientific expertise and international cooperation; instruments, artists, contexts and paths. The 10 papers and 13 contributors to this volume illustrate the diversity of methods to interrogate the history of the institution from its minutes and archives.
The first part of the book seeks to shed light on little-known actors who contributed to the missions of the scientific institution, such as the ‘Hommes de peine’ (men of sorrow) who took part in the meticulous and repetitive work of calculating the Connaissance des temps, an ephemeris initially intended for navigation. Categories such as caretakers and office boys or traces of women (calculators, widows, astronomers and patrons) appear in the minutes of the Bureau des Longitudes, as well as editors of the Bureau’s publications in the process of knowledge production. These types of actors are often overlooked in historical analyses, yet they were essential for making the star catalogues and generating astronomical data as can be seen through analysis of the minutes.
The second part examines the place of the Bureau des longitudes within wider networks, for example, its role in the organization of meetings between 1895 and 1920 of international associations linked to astronomy and the distribution of time signals; its ties to the Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM); and discussions ranging from decimalization of measurements to Hervé Faye’s theory of cyclones. Through these four contributions, a new view of the international role of the Bureau des longitudes, at the crossroads of different networks, emerges.
Instruments and material culture are the main theme of the third part of the book. The case of the Breguet clock, which was intended to decorate the meeting room of the Bureau des longitudes at the Institut de France, is discussed, as are the developments surrounding Charles Lallemand’s medimarémètre, an instrument used to measure the level of the tides and which gave its inventor a wider reputation, and the prism astrolabe, an instrument used in certain geodesic operations. These analyses illuminate the instrumental dimension of the institution and reveal how the development of scientific instruments enabled certain actors at the Bureau des longitudes to create significant scientific reputations, both locally and abroad.
Addressing a wide range of themes, these essays nicely highlight the role of this scientific institution during the 19th and first three decades of the 20th century. They offer powerful demonstrations of the potential of the research tools that were developed during this project, including digitization of the minutes and the construction of various databases. These fabulous research tools invite scholars to interrogate the history of the Bureau des longitudes through different dimensions such as its actors, network, functions, scientific instruments or its activities, and pave the way for future investigations to deepen our knowledge of the Bureau des longitudes and its relations with other institutions. The history of astronomy could be greatly enriched by such researches.