In our modern times we naturally associate great astronomical discoveries and expeditions with the discoverers and explorers involved. For example, extra-solar planets remind us of Wolszczan, Mayor & Queloz, Marcy & Butler. The Jupiter colliding comet of 1994 cannot help but bring up the names of Carolyn & Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy. Robotic Mars landings summon the names of Matt Golembeck and Steve Squyers. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin? Of course the first men to set foot on the Moon with Michael Collins keeping watch overhead. In the latter half of the 18 th Century, comet discoveries were almost the exclusive realm of Charles Messier, and his work made him just as famous in his time as the contemporary names given above are today. Furthermore, Messier’s work fits into a period of rapid astronomical discovery and development between the mid 17 th and 18 th centuries, with additional famous names from classical astronomy:

• Giovanni Domenico Cassini began publishing the Connaissance des Temps almanac in 1679 
• Isaac Newton published Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 
• Edmond Halley calculated the periodicity of his comet in 1705 and noted in 1718 that Aldebaran, Arcturus, and Sirius had shifted in position since recorded by Hipparchos 
• Halley also published a list of nebulous objects in the Philosophical Transactions in 1721–-it includes the Great Nebula in Orion (M42/43), the spiral nebula in Andromeda (M31/32/110), a globular cluster in Sagittarius (M22), a globular cluster in Centaurus, a galactic cluster in Scutum (open cluster M11), a globular cluster in Hercules (M13), and he predicted more would be discovered 
• John Dolland develops the crown and flint system for achromat refractor lenses and founds his telescope workshop in 1752 
• Immanuel Kant wrote General Natural History of the Heavens in 1755 
• Two transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769 were observed by an international cast of astronomers and scientists, some of whom wrote prodigiously about the events like Mason and Dixon, Chappe d’Auteroche, Pingre, Hell, Mayer, Dalrymple, and even Captain Cook of the Royal Navy 
• The discovery of Uranus by William Herschel in 1781 found the first planet requiring telescopic observation

His Early Life

Born into a family of modest means on June 26 th, 1730 at Badonviller, Lorraine, France, Charles was the tenth of twelve children, six of which survived into adulthood. His father Nicolas died when he was only eleven. A few years later from his hometown, he saw the Great Comet of 1744 (C/1743 X1 De Cheseaux, Klinkenberg), and in 1748 an annular solar eclipse. These observations inspired him to go to Paris in October, 1751, and begin a career in astronomy. Soon, the Hotel de Cluny with its small observatory became his new home and workplace.

Charles was born during the Regime of Louis XV (ruled 1715-1774), which inherited heavy debts from Louis XIV’s wars but somehow managed to mark the period with splendor via brilliant dramas and poetry, extravagant fashions in hoop skirts and tricorn hats, and gilded interiors in the affluent estates of the time. France was also at war or in an arms race with other major European powers–usually Great Britain--during this regime, and hence an important portion of the economy was dedicated towards military and technological concerns. Paris was the epicenter of French culture and it is easy to guess how a brilliant mind like Messier’s could be attracted to go there when his family was unable to further his education, especially as a twenty-one year old orphan.

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