Urbain Le Verrier (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier (11 March 1811 - 23 September 1877) was a French mathematician who specialized in celestial mechanics and is best known for his part in the discovery of Neptune. Le Verrier was born in Saint-Lo, France, and studied at the Ecole Polytechnique. Following a brief period studying chemistry under Gay-Lussac, Le Verrier switched to astronomy, particularly celestial mechanics. He accepted a job at the Paris Observatory, where he spent most of his professional life, and eventually became that institution's Director. In 1855, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.