Following Arago’s death in 1853, the Observatory plunged into a crisis: Should he be succeeded by a member of his family, which had installed itself at the Observatory, or by someone else. The latter solution was adopted, and the discoverer of Neptune, Urbain Le Verrier, was chosen. Authoritarian and an excellent organizer, he freed the Observatory from the Bureau des longitudes and reorganized it completely for positional astronomy, abandoning the newly born astrophysics. His thorny character made life difficult for many members of the observatory, and led to his dismissal in 1870. He was nevertheless reinstalled in 1872 and remained director until his death.

caption : Le Verrier’s portrait - credits : Observatoire de Paris