Dear all, A last note on the astronomer and instrument maker Jean Lefebvre.
There is also a detailed entry on Lefebvre in the DSB that I only happened to notice today: Robert M. McKeon, Dictionary of Scientific Biography (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1973), vol. VIII, pp. 131-132. McKeon argues that the astronomer and the instrument maker were different persons as instruments signed 'Lefebvre' were sold long after the death of Jean Lefebvre in 1706. McKeon does not seem to be aware that that the business was continued by his son Étienne-Jean which, I think, invalidates his conclusion. McKeon's article provides complete references to the original sources and he also makes the interesting suggestion that a run of astronomical almanacs published in Paris between 1702 and 1706 under the pseudonym J. de Beaulieu were by Lefebvre (and not by Charles Desforges as Lalande suggests). Best wishes, ======================================================== * Robert H. van Gent * Tel/Fax: 00-31-30-2720269 * * Zaagmolenkade 50 * * * 3515 AE Utrecht * E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * The Netherlands * * ******************************************************** * Homepage: http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/homepage.htm * ========================================================
