Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier Biography

Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier was a French astronomer and mathematician who analyzed the orbit of Uranus and accurately predicted the existence of another planet nearby. His prediction led directly to the discovery of Neptune in 1846. An English astronomer, John Couch Adams, calculated the same thing independently and earlier, but Leverrier’s work was published first. Leverrier is credited with coming up with the idea of daily weather reporting, and he also tried to prove the existence of another planet, Vulcan, near Mercury.