Urbain Le Verrier

Urbain Le Verrier
Born	Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier (1811-03-11)11 March 1811 Saint-Lô, First French Empire
Died	23 September 1877(1877-09-23) (aged 66) Paris, French Third Republic
Alma mater	École Polytechnique
Known for	Discovery of Neptune Euler's three-body problem Faddeev–LeVerrier algorithm
Awards	Copley Medal (1846) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1868, 1876)
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics, astronomy
Signature

Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier (French: [yʁbɛ̃ ʒɑ̃ ʒozɛf lə vɛʁje]; 11 March 1811 – 23 September 1877) was a French astronomer and mathematician who specialized in celestial mechanics and is best known for predicting the existence and position of Neptune using only mathematics.

The calculations were made to explain discrepancies with Uranus's orbit and the laws of Kepler and Newton. Le Verrier sent the coordinates to Johann Gottfried Galle in Berlin, asking him to verify. Galle found Neptune the same night he received Le Verrier's letter, within 1° of the predicted position.

The discovery of Neptune is widely regarded as a dramatic validation of celestial mechanics, and is one of the most remarkable moments of 19th-century science.