Mouton, Gabriel

1. Dates

Born: Lyons, 1618

Died: Lyons, 28 Sept. 1694

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan: 76

2. Father

Occupation: No Information

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: French

Career: French

Death: French

4. Education

Schooling: Lyons, DD

Before 1646 he obtained his doctorate in theology in Lyons. During his leisure time he studied mathematics and astronomy, rapidly acquiring a certain renown in the city.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic

At four years of age he entered St. Paul's Church in Lyons as an enfant choeur. After taking holy orders he became vicaire perpetuel at St. Paul's Church. He is buried at the chapel there. He spent his whole life in Lyons fulfilling his clerical duties.

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Mathematics, Astronomy

Mouton was a pioneer in research on natural and practical units of measurement. His Observationes diametrorum solis et lunae apparentium (1670) was the fruit of his astronomical observations and certain computational procedures he had developed. Mouton proposed to deduce the length of a terrestrial meridian from the variations of the length of a pendulum. A fraction of the terrestrial meridian would be adopted as the universal unit of length. The measuring procedures at the time were too unsatisfactory. The topic wouldn't be taken up again until 1790.

He determined with astronomical accuracy the apparent diameter of the sun at apogee.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Church Life

Spent whole life in Lyons fulfilling his clerical duties.

8. Patronage

Type: None

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Applied Mathematics, Instruments

He presented a very pratical computational device for completing ordered tables of numbers when the law of formation was known.

He constructed an astronomical pendulum remarkable for its precision.

10. Scientific Societies

Membership: Non

Sources

1. Michaud, Biographie générale.
2. Hoefer, Nouvelle biographie générale, (Paris, 1857-66).
3. P. Humbert, "Les astronomes françaises de 1610 à 1667," Bulletin de la Société d'études scientifiques et archéologiques de Draguignan et du Var, 42 (1942), pp. 5-72.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.