Since the Galilean revolution and the beginnings of modern experimental science (1610), scholars and enlightened monarchs have been interested in scientific demonstrations, astronomy...
Founding of the Academy of Sciences
1667
The mathematicians of the Academy establish the Paris meridian
1669
Jean-Dominique Cassini takes over the Observatory
1671
Cassini discovers Iapetus, a satellite of Saturn
1672
The distance from the Earth to the Sun is determined
1676
Cassini and Rømer discover that light has a finite speed
1679
Cassini establishes a magnificent map of the Moon
1682
Louis XIV visits the Observatory
Publication Newton's Principia de Newton
1693
Astronomers correct the map of France
Death of Louis XIV
1718
End of the first determination of the Paris meridian
1744
Geodesy shows that the Earth is flattened
Return of Halley's comet
1784
Termination of the great Cassini Map of France
1786
Construction of a small observatory on the terrace
French Revolution
1789
Raid of the Observatory cellars
1792
A new determination of the Paris meridian
1795
Creation of the Bureau des longitudes
Herschel discovers infrared radiation
1806
The young Arago continues the measurement of the meridian
1811
Arago creates astrophysics
End of the First Empire, Restoration
1816
Arago and Fresnel work together at the Observatory
1821
Bouvard notes an anomaly in the motion of Uranus
1834
Victor Hugo observes the Moon at the Observatory
1839
Arago and Daguerre make the first astronomical photograph
1841
Arago builds a lecture hall at the Observatory
Le Verrier discovers Neptune
1847
Completion of the large dome
Coup d'état of Napoléon III
1854
Arago succeeded by Le Verrier
1855
Le Verrier creates European meteorology
1858
Foucault invents the glass mirror telescope
1862
Foucault measures the speed of light accurately
1867
Wolf and Rayet discover emission line stars
End of the Second Empire, Third Republic
1876
Janssen creates an observatory at Meudon for physical astronomy
1879
Mouchez creates a museum at the Observatory
1887
Launch of the international project to create a photographic map of the sky
1890
Deslandres invents the spectroheliograph
Theory of relativity
1909
Nordmann measures stellar temperatures for the first time
1910
The Observatory time signals are transmitted from the Eiffel Tower
1910
Loewy and Puiseux terminate their photographic atlas of the Moon
First World War
Theory of general relativity
1919
Baillaud creates the Bureau international de l’heure and the Union astronomique internationale
1927
Merger of the Paris and Meudon observatories
Discovery of the expansion of the Universe
1930
Lyot invents the coronagraph
1933
The talking clock is switched on
Creation of the CNRS, of the IAP and of the OHP
1936
Discovery of irregularities in the rotation of the Earth
Second World War
1945
Danjon takes charge of the Observatory
1953
Creation of the Nançay radioastronomical station
Launch of Sputnik
1959
The first computer arrives at the Meudon observatory
1959
The first electronic camera is installed at the Lick Observatory in California
Discovery of quasars
1963
The Observatory gets into space research
Discovery of the microwave radiation of the Universe
1967
The large Nançay radio-telescope commissioned
Discovery of pulsars
1969
The Meudon “solar tower” is commissioned
1971
The first significant space experiment is placed on board a Soviet space probe
1973
Observation of a total solar eclipse from the Concorde
1975
Creation of the Laboratoire primaire du temps et des fréquences (Time and Frequency Standard Laboratory)
1979
Commissioning of the French-Canada-Hawaii telescope
Discovery of supernovae neutrinos
1989
Launch of the astrometric satellite Hipparcos
1989
Creation of the Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique (IRAM)
1993
Creation of an extremely accurate clock
1993
Ground-based images better than those from the Hubble Space Telescope