Editing François Arago (section)

==Politics and legacy==
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[[File:Arago medallion Paris.jpg|thumb|right|250px|One of the 135 Arago medallions set along the [[Paris Meridian]] for {{convert|9.2|km|0|abbr=on}}, in memorial to Arago and his work on the meridian and his measurements of the Earth.]]

In 1830, Arago, who always professed liberal opinions of the [[Republicanism|republican]] type, was elected a member of the chamber of deputies for the [[Pyrénées-Orientales]] ''[[département]]'', and he employed his talents of eloquence and scientific knowledge in all questions connected with public education, the rewards of inventors, and the encouragement of the mechanical and practical sciences. Many of the most creditable national enterprises, dating from this period, are due to his advocacy – such as the reward to [[Louis Daguerre]] for the invention of photography, the grant for the publication of the works of [[Fermat]] and [[Pierre-Simon Laplace|Laplace]], the acquisition of the museum of Cluny, the development of railways and electric telegraphs, the improvement of the reneile. In 1839, Arago reported the invention of photography to stunned listeners of a joint meeting of the academies of Arts and Sciences.

In 1830, Arago also was appointed director of the Observatory, and as a member of the chamber of deputies he was able to obtain grants of money for rebuilding it in part, and for the addition of magnificent instruments. In the same year, too, he was chosen perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences, the place of [[Joseph Fourier]]. Arago threw himself into its service, and by his faculty of making friends he gained at once for it and for himself a worldwide reputation. As perpetual secretary it was his duty to pronounce historical [[eulogy|eulogies]] on deceased members; and for this duty his rapidity and facility of thought, and his happy piquancy of style, and his extensive knowledge peculiarly adapted him. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1832.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]|access-date=22 April 2011}}</ref>

In 1834, Arago again visited [[Scotland]], to attend the meeting of the [[British Association for the Advancement of Science|British Association]] at [[Edinburgh]]. From this time till 1848 he led a life of comparative quiet – although he continued to work within the Academy and the Observatory to produce a multitude of contributions to all departments of physical science – but on the fall of [[Louis-Philippe of France|Louis-Philippe]] he left his laboratory to join the Provisional Government (24 February 1848). He was entrusted with two important functions, that had never before been given to one person, viz. the ministry of marine and colonies (24 February 1848{{snd}}11 May 1848) and ministry of war (5 April 1848{{snd}}11 May 1848); in the former capacity he improved rations in the navy and abolished flogging. He also abolished political oaths of all kinds and, against an array of moneyed interests, succeeded in procuring the [[Abolition of slavery timeline|abolition of slavery]] in the [[French colonies]].

On 10 May 1848, Arago was elected a member of the [[French Executive Commission (1848)|Executive Power Commission]], a governing body of the French Republic. He was made President of the Executive Power Commission (11 May 1848) and served in this capacity as provisional head of state until 24 June 1848, when collective resignation of the commission was submitted to the National Constituent Assembly. At the beginning of May 1852, when the government of [[Napoleon III of France|Louis Napoleon]] required an oath of allegiance from all its functionaries, Arago peremptorily refused, and sent in his resignation of his post as astronomer at the Bureau des Longitudes. This, however, the prince president declined to accept, and made "an exception in favour of a savant whose works had thrown lustre on France, and whose existence the government would regret to embitter."

Cape Gregory in [[Oregon]] was named by [[James Cook|Captain Cook]] on 12 March 1778 after [[Saint Gregory]], the saint of that day; it was renamed [[Cape Arago State Park|Cape Arago]] after François Arago.<ref name=OGN>{{cite ogn|7th|page=159}}</ref>