夏尔-欧仁·德洛奈1816—1872

生活

1816年4月9日，他出生在法国的巴尔斯河畔吕西尼，是雅克-于贝尔·德洛奈（Jacques‐Hubert Delaunay）和卡特琳·舒瓦瑟拉（Catherine Choiselat）的儿子，曾在巴黎大学师从让-巴蒂斯特·毕奥。他将月球力学视作三体问题的一个特例来研究，在1860年和1867年先后就该科题发表过两卷篇幅分别为900页的著作。该研究揭示出系统中的混沌，清晰地表明了微扰理论中所谓的“细微共性”问题。他的摄动理论表达式对查找月球的交汇位置太慢，不具有实用性，但可促进泛函分析和代数计算的发展。

1870年，德洛奈成为巴黎天文台台长，但二年后，即1872年8月5日，他在法国瑟堡附近的一次划船事故中，不幸意外溺水而亡。

荣誉

法兰西科学院院士,（1855年）

英国皇家天文学会金质奖章,（1870年）

他的名字是埃菲尔铁塔上所刻的72人列表之一。

Charles-Eugène Delaunay (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl øʒɛn dəlonɛ]; 9 April 1816 – 5 August 1872) was a French astronomer and mathematician. His lunar motion studies were important in advancing both the theory of planetary motion and mathematics.

Life

Born in Lusigny-sur-Barse, France, to Jacques-Hubert Delaunay and Catherine Choiselat, Delaunay studied under Jean-Baptiste Biot at the Sorbonne. He worked on the mechanics of the Moon as a special case of the three-body problem. He published two volumes on the topic, each of 900 pages in length, in 1860 and 1867. The work hints at chaos in the system, and clearly demonstrates the problem of so-called "small denominators" in perturbation theory. His infinite series expression for finding the position of the Moon converged too slowly to be of practical use but was a catalyst in the development of functional analysis and computer algebra.

Delaunay maintained a home in Ramerupt, the ancestral home of his wife's family. He would frequent the commune each summer.

Delaunay became director of the Paris Observatory in 1870 but drowned in a boating accident near Cherbourg, France, two years later. He was followed by Jean Claude Bouquet at the Academy. Peter Guthrie Tait in his book An Elementary Treatise on Quaternions edition 1867 on page 244 named Didonia in honour of Delaunay.

Delaunay was buried in Ramerupt.

Honours

Member of the Académie des Sciences, (1855)

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, (1870)

His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

Delaunay crater on the Moon is named after him.