MAUPERTUIS Pierre Louis Moreau de Astronomie nautique : ou élémens d’astronomie Tant pour un Observatoire fixe, que pour un Observatoire mobile.

Lalande, 419; Polak, 6542 (2nd edition only); DSB, IX, 186-187; not in Houzeau & Lancaster.

First edition, rare.

Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759), contributed immensely to the spreading of Newton's theories on the continent. His "Astronomie nautique" is the result of laborious studies on the measurement of longitudes and latitudes stated in 1735.

"In 1735 France sent an expedition to Peru under the leadership of La Condamine and another to Lapland under the leadership of Maupertuis. Clairaut, Camus, and other scientists accompanied the latter. The mission of each expedition was to measure as accurately as possible the length of a degree along the meridian of longitude. If, indeed, the earth is flattened toward the poles, as Newton had predicted, the degree of longitude should be longer in far northern latitudes than near the equator… The laborious analysis of the data on the length of the arc of a meridional degree at various latitudes took much time and created much controversy. The measurements made in France had to be corrected. In December 1739 Maupertuis announced to the Academy the value found for the distance along the meridian between Paris and Amiens" (DSB).

Fine copy.