BOCHART DE SARON, JEAN-BAPTISTE-GASPARD

born Jan. 16, 1730, Paris, France died April 20, 1794, Paris French lawyer and natural scientist who became especially known for his advances in astronomy. After having studied at the college of Louis-le-Grand, Bochart became legal counselor to the Parlement of Paris in 1748, master of requests in 1750, advocate general in 1753, a judicial president in 1755, and president of the Parlement of Paris in 1789 a few months prior to the outbreak of the French Revolution. Well-to-do, he became a patron of the sciences, financing the publication of the marquis de Laplace's Theory of the Movement and Elliptic Figure of the Planets (1784) and developing one of Europe's largest and finest collections of reflecting telescopes and other astronomical instruments for his own use and the use of his scientific friends. Bochart's own studies included calculation of the orbits of comets, using data contributed by his long-time collaborator Charles Messier. In 1779 Bochart was received into the Academy of Sciences as an honorary member. Bochart protested the dissolution of the Parlement and was guillotined during the Reign of Terror.