Paris Meridian

The Paris Meridian is a meridian line running through Paris, now longitude 2°20′14″ east. It was a long-standing rival to Greenwich as the prime meridian of the world.

Origin

A French astronomer, Abbé Jean Picard, measured the length of a degree of longitude and computed from it the size of the Earth, in 1655. In 1666, Louis XIV authorized the building of a Paris observatory to measure longitude. On Midsummer's Day 1667, members of the Academy of Sciences traced the future building's outline on a plot outside town near the Port Royal abbey, with Picard's meridian exactly bisecting the site north-south. French cartographers would use it as their prime meridian for more than 200 years.

Related Topics:
1655 - 1666 - 1667

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In the early 1800s, the Paris Meridian was recalculated with greater precision by the astronomer Francois Arago, whose name now appears on the plaques or medallions tracing the route of the meridian though Paris (see below).

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In 1884, at the International Meridian Conference in Washington DC, the Greenwich Meridian was adopted as the prime meridian of the world. France abstained. The French clung to the Paris Meridian as a rival to Greenwich until 1911 for timekeeping purposes and 1914 for navigation. To this day, French cartographers continue to indicate the Paris Meridian on some maps.

Related Topics:
1884 - Washington DC - Prime meridian - 1911 - 1914

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