Nicole-Reine Lepaute
Personal Information
Born: 1723
Died: 1788
Country of Birth: France
Nationality: France
Ethnicity: White
Education
self-taught
Professional Life
Field of Study: Mathmatics; Astronomer
Institution/Corporation: none
Degrees & Memberships: Member Scientific Academie de Beziers
Awards & Achievements
Awards: Asteroid 7720 & a lunar crater are named after her
Achievements: with husband, Jean-Andre Lepaute, & Jerome Lalande wrote Treatise on Clockmaking published under her husband s name but Lalande noted in other articles that she performed all the calculations for the book; with husband, designed & produced a clock with astronomical function, completed in 1753
Predicted the return of Halley's Comet (it took her 6 months to conduct the calculations)
Calculated the timing of a solar eclipse in 1764
constructed a group of catalogs for the stars (1759-1783)
Is sometimes erroneously called Hortense Lepaute
Was a voracious reader & was mostly self-taught
Had to stop working on astronomical calculations in 1783 due to failing eyesight