FLAMMARION, NICOLAS CAMILLE French astronomer, was born at Montigny-le-Roi, Haute Marne, on Feb. 25, 1842. He studied theology at Langre and Paris but was attracted to astronomy, and at the age of 16 he wrote a manuscript of Soo pages Cosmologie Universelle; this was the foundation of one of his later works, La monde avant la creation de l'homme. He became a computer at the Paris observatory (1858-62) and at the Bureau des Longitudes (1862-65). He returned to the Paris observatory in 1867, where he took charge of a large telescope for the measurement of double stars. In 1882 an admirer, M. Meret, presented Flammarion with an estate and chateau at Juvisy, near Paris; here he installed and equipped a private observatory to which he added later a meteorological and climatological station.
Flammarion was interested in making observations with the telescope; he mapped Mars many times and made a number of observations on the moon. In 1879 he drew attention to the changes in colour of the crater Plato and explained them on the assumption of the presence of a primitive vegetation. He observed a number of double stars and computed their orbits, he also observed a number of cases of star drift.
More important, perhaps, than his actual observations was his effort to encourage and popularize the study of astronomy. Flam marion was a fine imaginative writer and he wrote a number of books which made astronomy interesting and intelligible to the lay reader. L'Astronomie Populaire (1879, translated into Eng lish by J. E. Gore, 1894) is the one best known to English readers; it gained the Montyon prize of the Paris Academie. Flammarion also edited a number of scientific and astronomic reviews. He began to edit Cosmos in 1862 and Annuaire Astronomique, which was an almanac and astronomical review, in 1864. He also edited Siecle and in 1882 he founded the review L'Astronomie. In addi tion to his writing Flammarion encouraged a number of amateur observers at Juvisy, and in 1887 founded the Societe Astron omique de France. His services in popularizing interest in astron omy were acknowledged in 1922 by the award of Commander of the Legion of Honour. Towards the end of his life Flam marion wrote on psychical research. He died in Paris on June 4, 1925.
His books have been translated into many languages and some have run into as many as zoo editions; amongst them are Histoire du ciel (1867) ; Contemplations scientifiques (1869) ; Navigation aerienne (1869) ; L'Atmosphere (1872) ; La pluralite des mondes habites (1875) Les mondes imaginaires et les mondes reels (1875) ; Les Merveilles celestes (1875) ; Etudes sur l'astronomie (9 vols., 1867-8o) ; Dieu dans la Nature (1875) . (E. TR.)