Nicolas Camille Flammarion (February 26, 1842 - June 3, 1925)

Nicolas Camille Flammarion was born in 1842 at Montigny-le-Roi in the department of Haute Marne, France. He first studied theology, but early got interested in astronomy. At age 16, in 1858, he wrote a 500-page manuscript, Cosmologie Universelle, and became an assistent of LeVerrier (the man whose calculations had led to the discovery of Neptune) at Paris Observatory. From 1862 to 1867, he temporarily worked at the Bureau of Longitudes, then returning to the Observatory where he got involved in the program of double star observing. This project resulted in publishing a catalog of 10,000 double stars in 1878.

Besides, Flammarion observed the Moon and planet Mars. In 1873 and 1885, he brought up the hypothesis that Mars' color might be attributed to vegetation. He published several popular books: L'Astronomie Populaire in 1880 (Flammarion 1880), of which over 100,000 copies were sold, and an English translation by J.E. Gore appeared in 1894, as well as a book on Mars, La Planète Mars, supporting the existence of "canals", built by an advanced civilisation, Vol. 1 in 1892 (Flammarion 1892) and Vol. 2 in 1909 (Flammarion 1909). Also, he encouraged amateur astronomy.

In 1882, he established the magazine L'Astronomie, with the first issue published January 1, 1883. Supported by a donation by a M. Meret who admired his work, in 1883, he founded a private observatory at Juvisy-sur-Orge close to and south of Paris, now also named the Camille Flammarion Observatory (Observatoire Camille Flammarion, or Observatoire de Juvisy-sur-Orge). In January 1887, Flammarion founded the Astronomical Society of France, Société Astronomique de France (SAF), a society open to all, with professional as well as amateur astronomers, both from France and other countries.

In 1922, he was made a Commander of the Legion of Honor for his astronomical life-work.

In 1874, he married his first wife, Silvie, née Pétiaux-Hugo (1836-1919), widow of Esprit Mathieu (1810-1873). After her death, he married Gabrielle, née Renaudot (1877-1962), who had been working in his observatory since about 1914. Camille Flammarion passed away on June 3, 1925 in Juvisy-sur-Orge (Essonne, France). He was survived by his second wife Gabrielle Flammarion.

Flammarion was honored by the naming of a Moon Crater (3.4S, 3.7W, 74.0 km diameter, in 1935) and a Mars Crater (25.4N, 311.8W, 173.0 km, in 1973). Asteroid (1021) Flammario has been discovered by Max Wolf on March 11, 1924 and provisionally known as 1924 RG; also as A910 CE and 1977 UM from independent findings.

In 1877, Camille Flammarion had found and acquired Messier's personal copy and notes of the Messier Catalog from an old book store. He used this as reference for various works including a revised version of the catalog, and between 1917 and 1921, published a series of profound articles on his systematic observations, and the contemporary knowledge about these objects. Evaluating Messier's handwritten notes, he tentatively identified M102 with NGC 5866 before 1917 (Flammarion 1917, 1921a). In 1921, based on another handwriting by Messier, he appended the first additional object to Messier's Catalog, when he added M104 to the Messier Catalog, which he identified with William Herschel's H I.43 or NGC 4594 (Flammarion 1921b, 1921c). This was the first of a number of additions to Messier's catalog. After finishing the Messier Catalog, he continued by observing other, or additional "Principal Star Clusters and Great Nebulae" visible from France with medium-sized instruments which he numbers consecutively starting with No. 105. and up to No. 120 (in 1924); we have compiled a list of Flammarion's additional objects.

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Last Modification: March 8, 2026