France 1956 – Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion (1842–1925) was a French astronomer noted for his popularization of the subject to the
general public. As a young man he worked at Paris Observatory but left to
pursue his popular writing. In 1882 a donation from a wealthy admirer allowed
him to set up his own private observatory at Juvisy-sur-Orge (shown on this
stamp) where he worked until his death. Also in 1882 he founded the monthly
magazine l’Astronomie and in 1887 founded the Sociétié Astronomique de France, of which he was the first president. His most famous
work, Astronomie populaire, was published in 1880 and translated into English
as Popular Astronomy in 1894. A spiritualist, he was a strong believer in life on other worlds, a
subject which featured prominently in his writings.
Flammarion’s stamp was in a four-part set commemorating French scientists, the others being
Jean Henri Fabre, an entmologist; Charles Tellier, a refrigeration engineer;
and Paul Sabatier, a chemist.
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