- Benjamin Valz
Jean Elias Benjamin Valz (
May 27 1787 –April 22 1867 ) was a Frenchastronomer .He was born in
Nîmes and trained as an engineer. He became interested inastronomy andcomet s in particular, observing the return of what would later be namedComet Encke . He later made a very complete calculation of theorbital elements of another comet, for which he won recognition.In 1835 he hypothesized that irregularities in
Comet Halley 's orbit could be explained by an unknown planet beyond Uranus—at the time, Neptune was not yet discovered.He built a private observatory at his home and when he went to take up a post as director of the
Marseille Observatory , he left his home to a young man named "A. Laurent ", who used the observatory to discover theasteroid 51 Nemausa . The house, at 32 rue Nationale in Nîmes, has a plaque commemorating the discovery. [http://www.netnimes.com/centre_ville_8.htm]Valz himself was at one time said to be the discoverer of two asteroids,
20 Massalia and25 Phocaea , but nowadays these are credited to the Italian astronomerAnnibale de Gasparis and to Valz's colleagueJean Chacornac , respectively.External links
* http://www-obs.cnrs-mrs.fr/tricent/astronomes/valz.htm (in French)
Persondata
NAME= Valz, Benjamin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Valz, Jean Elias Benjamin
SHORT DESCRIPTION= French astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH=May 27 1787
PLACE OF BIRTH=Nîmes
DATE OF DEATH=April 22 1867
PLACE OF DEATH=
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