L’inventaire et le patrimoine de l’astronomie : l’exemple des cercles méridiens et de leurs abris

Abstract

Although it was first designed at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the meridian circle only really began to equip astronomical observatories around 1850. It rapidly became an essential instrument for positional astronomy and its intense use lasted for more than a century. A recent inventory of France's heritage of astronomical instruments and sites, carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Research, offered the chance to study eleven of these instruments, along with the architectural and technical aspects of the buildings which house them.

Keywords

• inventory
• scientific heritage
• scientific architecture
• observatory
• astronomy
• positional astronomy