Urbain Le Verrier
He predicted the existence and location of Neptune based on perturbations in Uranus's orbit.
Most quoted
"To gaze at the night sky is to confront our own mortality, to realize the brevity of our time against the backdrop of eternity, and yet, to find a strange comfort in that vastness."
— from Observational Diaries
"Death is the ultimate unknown, yet in the grand cosmic scheme, it is but a transition, a return to the elements from which we were forged, to be scattered among the stars."
— from Private Journals
"Direct your telescope to the ecliptic in the constellation of Aquarius, at a longitude of about 326 degrees, and you will find within a degree of that place a new planet."
— from Letter to Johann Galle, 1846
All quotes by Urbain Le Verrier (375)
What we cannot see, we can often deduce.
The motion of the heavens is a clock of perfect regularity.
Let us calculate, and we shall know.
The discovery of a new celestial body is the highest reward for an astronomer.
There are no contradictions in nature, only in our understanding.
Precision is the soul of astronomy.
The true astronomer is a patient hunter, guided by calculation.
I have never believed in astronomical ghosts; every effect has a material cause.
The orbit of a planet is its biography, written by gravity.
To predict is to demonstrate the power of human reason.
The stars obey laws that we can comprehend; this is the greatest wonder.
Do not be satisfied with cataloguing phenomena; seek their causes.
The history of astronomy is a history of corrections.
An error of a few seconds of arc can hide a planet.
The telescope confirms what the mind has already seen.
In science, priority belongs to the one who proves, not merely suggests.
The harmony of the solar system is a mathematical harmony.
I sought a planet and I found it; what greater satisfaction can there be?
The opposition of colleagues is but a test of one's convictions.
A theory must be beautiful in its simplicity and power.
Contemporaries of Urbain Le Verrier
Other Astronomys born within 50 years of Urbain Le Verrier (1811–1877).