Giacomo F. Maraldi facts for kids
Giacomo Filippo Maraldi (born August 21, 1665 – died December 1, 1729) was a famous French-Italian astronomer and mathematician. He is also known by his French name, Jacques Philippe Maraldi.
Maraldi was born in Perinaldo, which is in modern Liguria, Italy. He was the nephew of another well-known astronomer, Giovanni Domenico Cassini. Giacomo Maraldi spent most of his working life at the Paris Observatory in France, from 1687 to 1718. He was also the uncle of Jean-Dominique Maraldi, who became an astronomer too.
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A Life Among the Stars
Giacomo Maraldi dedicated many years to studying the sky. From 1700 to 1718, he worked on creating a detailed list of fixed stars. These are stars that appear to stay in the same place in the night sky. He also spent a lot of time studying the planet Mars.
Discoveries About Mars
One of Maraldi's most famous discoveries was about Mars. He noticed that the planet's ice caps are not exactly at its North and South poles. This was an important observation for understanding Mars better.
Light and Other Stars
In May 1724, Maraldi made another key discovery during a solar eclipse. He realized that the bright glow around the Sun, called the solar corona, actually belongs to the Sun itself, not to the Moon that is blocking the Sun.
He also discovered that a star named R Hydrae is a variable star. This means its brightness changes over time. Maraldi also helped with a big project to map the land based on the Paris Meridian, which is an imaginary line running through Paris used for measuring distances.
Understanding Light Waves
In 1723, Maraldi helped confirm an earlier discovery made by his student, Joseph-Nicolas Delisle. This discovery is now known as Poisson's spot. It's a bright spot that appears in the center of a shadow when light shines past a small, round object.
This observation was very important much later, in the early 1800s. It provided strong proof that light travels in waves, not just as tiny particles.
His Work in Math
Maraldi was also a talented mathematician. In 1712, he became well-known for figuring out a special angle in a shape called the rhombic dodecahedron. This angle is still called the Maraldi angle today.
Legacy
To honor his contributions, craters on both the Moon and Mars were named after Giacomo Maraldi and his nephew.
See also
In Spanish: Jacques Philippe Maraldi para niños
