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History and Heritage

After three and a half centuries of astronomy practiced within its walls - from 1667 till now - the Observatoire de Paris has an incredibly rich scientific and technological heritage. Its history is that of its scientists, its research, its instruments, its buildings and its archives; today’s scientific discoveries will become tomorrow’s historical treasures.

History of the Parisian site

Fonded in 1667 as a place where the Sun King’s astronomers, members of the Academy, could work, it is still at the heart of French astronomy and a major institution in the world of science. (...)

History of the Meudon site

Founded in 1876 through the initiative of Jules Janssen, this observatory is entirely devoted to astrophysics, a completely new discipline in his time. It gradually acquired impressive and (...)

History of the Nançay site

The first French site for radioastronomy, Nançay’s activities began in 1953 driven by several physicists and astronomers. The Ecole Normale Supérieure, the C.N.R.S. and the Paris Observatory (...)

Historical research

The history of astronomy is an active discipline at the Observatoire de Paris. Its historians present their work in seminars and in publications.

Heritage resources

These pages are a means to explore the heritage resources, via the Alidade inventory, via the thematic files for the archives, or by viewing historical scientific films. The most beautiful (...)