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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