Editing François Arago

{{Short description|French physicist and astronomer (1786–1853)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name              = François Arago
| image             = François Arago by Carl von Steuben.jpg
| caption = Portrait by [[Charles de Steuben]]
| office            = [[French Executive Commission (1848)|President of the Executive Commission]]
| term_start        = 9 May 1848
| term_end          = 28 June 1848
| predecessor       = [[Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure]]<br>(as President of the [[French Provisional Government of 1848|Provisional Government]])
| successor         = [[Louis-Eugène Cavaignac]]<br>(as Chief of the Executive Power)
| office1           = [[Minister of Defence (France)|Minister of War]]
| president1        = Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure
| term_start1       = 5 April 1848
| term_end1         = 11 May 1848
| predecessor1      = Louis-Eugène Cavaignac
| successor1        = [[Jean-Baptiste-Adolphe Charras]]
| office2           = [[List of Naval Ministers of France|Minister of the Navy]]
| president2        = Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure
| term_start2       = 24 February 1848
| term_end2         = 4 May 1848
| predecessor2      = [[Louis Napoléon Lannes]]
| successor2        = [[Joseph Grégoire Casy]]
| office3           = <!-- [[National Assembly (France)|Member of the Constituent Assembly]]<br>for [[Seine (department)|Seine]]
| term_start3       = 4 May 1848
| term_end3         = 26 May 1849
| predecessor3      = constituency established
| successor3        = [[Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais]]
| constituency3     = [[Paris]]
| office4           = [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Member of the Chamber of Deputies]]<br>for [[Pyrénées-Orientales]]
| term_start4       = 6 July 1831
| term_end4         = 24 February 1848
| predecessor4      = Jacques-François-Hippolyte Durand
| successor4        = [[Emmanuel Arago]]
| constituency4     = [[Perpignan]] -->
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=y|1786|2|26}}
| birth_place       = [[Estagel]], [[Roussillon]], France
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=y|1853|10|2|1786|2|26}}
| death_place       = [[Paris]], [[Seine (department)|Seine]], France
| resting_place     = [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]], Paris
| party             = [[Moderate Republicans (France, 1848–1870)|Moderate Republican]]
| spouse            = {{marriage|Lucie Carrier-Besombes|1811|1829|end=d.}}
| children          = [[Emmanuel Arago]]<br>Alfred<br>Gabriel
| alma_mater        = {{lang|fr|[[École Polytechnique]]|italic=no}}
| profession        = [[Astronomer]], [[physicist]], [[mathematician]]
| module            = {{Infobox scientist
| embed      = yes
| fields     = [[Astronomy]], [[mathematics]], [[physics]]
| workplaces = [[Bureau des Longitudes]], [[French Academy of Sciences]], [[Paris Observatory]]
| patrons    = [[Siméon Denis Poisson]]<br>[[Pierre-Simon Laplace]]
| known_for  = [[Rotary polarization]]<br>[[Polarizer]]<br>[[Eddy currents]]<br>[[Fresnel–Arago laws]]<br>[[Arago spot]]<br>[[Arago's rotations]]<br>[[Arago telescope]]
| awards     = [[Copley Medal]]
| signature  = Signature de François Arago.svg
}}
}}
''' Dominique François Jean Arago''' ({{langx|ca|Domènec Francesc Joan Aragó}}), known simply as '''François Arago''' ({{IPA|fr|fʁɑ̃swa aʁaɡo|lang}}; Catalan: {{lang|ca|Francesc Aragó}}, {{IPA|ca|fɾənˈsɛsk əɾəˈɣo|IPA}}; 26 February 1786{{snd}}2 October 1853), was a French [[mathematician]], [[physicist]], [[astronomer]], [[freemason]],<ref>''Victor SCHOELCHER Républicain et franc-maçon'', Anne GIROLLET, ed. Maçonnique Française, p. 26</ref> supporter of the [[Carbonari]] revolutionaries<ref>Dictionnaire universel de la Franc-Maçonnerie By Monique Cara, Jean-Marc Cara, Marc Jode</ref> and politician.

==Early life and work==
Arago was born at [[Estagel]], a small village of 3,000<ref>{{cite journal|title=Francois Arago|journal=The Canadian Journal|year=1854|volume=2|page=159|url=https://archive.org/stream/canadianjournal14goog#page/n171/mode/1up|access-date=3 May 2013}}</ref> near [[Perpignan]], in the ''{{lang|fr|département}}'' of [[Pyrénées-Orientales]], France, where his father held the position of Treasurer of the Mint.
His parents were François Bonaventure Arago (1754–1814) and [[Marie Arago]] (1755–1845).

Arago was the eldest of four brothers. Jean (1788–1836) emigrated to North America and became a general in the Mexican army. [[Jacques Arago|Jacques Étienne Victor]] (1799–1855) took part in [[Louis de Freycinet]]'s exploring voyage in the ''Uranie'' from 1817 to 1821, and on his return to France devoted himself to his journalism and the drama. The fourth brother, [[Étienne Arago|Étienne Vincent]] (1802–1892), is said to have collaborated with [[Honoré de Balzac]] in ''The Heiress of Birague'', and from 1822 to 1847 wrote a great number of light dramatic pieces, mostly in collaboration.<ref name="eb">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Arago, Dominique François Jean|volume=2|pages=312–313}}</ref>

Showing decided military tastes, François Arago was sent to the municipal college of [[Perpignan]], where he began to study [[mathematics]] in preparation for the entrance examination of the {{lang|fr|[[École Polytechnique]]|italic=no}}. Within two years and a half he had mastered all the subjects prescribed for examination, and a great deal more, and, on going up for examination at [[Toulouse]], he astounded his examiner by his knowledge of [[Joseph-Louis Lagrange|J.-L. Lagrange]]'s work.<ref name="eb" /><ref name=":0">{{cite Q|Q51427133|title=The history of my youth|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/17642235|author=F. Arago}}</ref>

Towards the close of 1803, Arago entered the {{lang|fr|[[École Polytechnique]]|italic=no}}, Paris, but apparently found the professors there incapable of imparting knowledge or maintaining discipline. The [[artillery]] service was his ambition, and in 1804, through the advice and recommendation of [[Siméon Poisson]], he received the appointment of secretary to the [[Paris Observatory]]. He now became acquainted with [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]], and through his influence was commissioned, with [[Jean-Baptiste Biot]], to complete the [[meridian arc]] measurements which had been begun by [[Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre|J. B. J. Delambre]], and interrupted since the death of [[P. F. A. Méchain]] in 1804 (the [[meridian arc of Delambre and Méchain]]). 
Arago and Biot left Paris in 1806 and began operations along the mountains of Spain.
Biot returned to Paris after they had [[Latitude determination|determined the latitude]] of [[Formentera]], the southernmost point to which they were to carry the survey.<ref name="eb" /> Arago continued the work until 1809, his purpose being to [[Arc measurement|measure a meridian arc]] in order to determine the exact length of a metre (see [[Paris meridian#History]]).{{anchor|Arc measurement}}

After Biot's departure, the political ferment caused by the entrance of the French into Spain extended to the [[Balearic Islands]], and the population suspected Arago's movements and his lighting of fires on the top of Mount Galatzó ([[Catalan language|Catalan]]: Mola de l'Esclop) as the activities of a spy for the invading army.<ref name=":0" /> Their reaction was such that he was obliged to give himself up for imprisonment in the fortress of [[Bellver]] in June 1808. On 28 July he escaped from the island in a fishing-boat, and after an adventurous voyage he reached [[Algiers]] on 3 August. From there he obtained a passage in a vessel bound for [[Marseille]], but on 16 August, just as the vessel was nearing Marseille, it fell into the hands of a Spanish [[Privateer|corsair]]. With the rest the crew, Arago was taken to [[Roses, Girona|Roses]], and imprisoned first in a windmill, and afterwards in a fortress, until the town fell into the hands of the French, when the prisoners were transferred to [[Palamos]].<ref name="eb" /><ref name=":0" />

After three months' imprisonment, Arago and the others were released on the demand of the [[dey]] of Algiers, and again set sail for Marseille on 28 November, but then within sight of their port they were driven back by a northerly wind to [[Béjaïa|Bougie]] on the coast of Africa. Transport to Algiers by sea from this place would have occasioned a weary delay of three months; Arago, therefore, set out over land, guided by a Muslim priest, and reached it on Christmas Day. After six months in Algiers he once again, on 21 June 1809, set sail for Marseille, where he had to undergo a monotonous and inhospitable quarantine in the [[lazaretto]], before his difficulties were over. The first letter he received, while in the lazaretto, was from [[Alexander von Humboldt]]; and this was the origin of a connection which, in Arago's words, "lasted over forty years without a single cloud ever having troubled it."<ref name="eb" />

==Scientific studies==
Arago had succeeded in preserving the records of his survey; and his first act on his return home was to deposit them in the [[Bureau des Longitudes]] at Paris. As a reward for his adventurous conduct in the cause of science, he was elected a member of the [[French Academy of Sciences]], at the remarkably early age of twenty-three, and before the close of 1809 he was chosen by the council of the {{lang|fr|[[École Polytechnique]]|italic=no}} to succeed [[Gaspard Monge]] in the chair of [[analytical geometry]]. At the same time he was named by the emperor one of the astronomers of the [[Paris Observatory]], which was accordingly his residence till his death. It was in this capacity that he delivered his remarkably successful series of popular lectures in astronomy, which were continued from 1812 to 1845.<ref name="eb" />

In 1818 or 1819 he proceeded along with Biot to execute [[Geodesy|geodetic]] operations on the coasts of France, England and Scotland. They measured the length of the [[seconds pendulum]] at [[Leith]], Scotland, and in the [[Shetland Islands]], the results of the observations being published in 1821, along with those made in Spain. Arago was elected a member of the Bureau des Longitudes immediately afterwards, and contributed to each of its Annuals, for about twenty-two years, important scientific notices on astronomy and [[meteorology]] and occasionally on [[civil engineering]], as well as interesting memoirs of members of the Academy.<ref name="eb" />

Arago's earliest physical researches were on the [[pressure]] of [[steam]] at different temperatures, and the [[velocity]] of sound, 1818 to 1822. His [[magnet]]ic observations mostly took place from 1823 to 1826. He discovered rotatory magnetism, what has been called [[Arago's rotations]], and the fact that most bodies could be magnetized; these discoveries were completed and explained by [[Michael Faraday]].
[[File:Babbage, Charles – Account of the repetition of M. Arago's experiments on the magnetism manifested by various substances during the act of rotation, 1825 – BEIC 722599.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Charles Babbage]], ''Account of the repetition of M. Arago's experiments on the magnetism manifested by various substances during the act of rotation'', 1825]]

Arago warmly supported [[Augustin-Jean Fresnel]]'s [[optics|optical]] theories, helping to confirm [[Fresnel]]'s [[wave theory of light]] by observing what is now known as [[Arago spot|the spot of Arago]]. The two philosophers conducted together those experiments on the [[Polarization (waves)|polarization]] of light which led to the inference that the [[oscillation|vibration]]s of the [[luminiferous ether]] were transverse to the direction of [[motion (physics)|motion]], and that polarization consisted of a resolution of [[rectilinear propagation]] into components at right angles to each other. The subsequent invention of the [[polariscope]] and discovery of [[Rotary polarization]] are due to Arago. He invented the first polarization filter in 1812.<ref>{{The Timetables of Science|pages=261}}</ref> He was the first to perform a [[polarimetric]] observation of a comet when he discovered polarized light from the tail of the [[Great Comet of 1819]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kolokolova|first1=Ludmilla|title=Polarimetry of Stars and Planetary Systems|year=2015|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-1-107-04390-9|page=380|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KFqtCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA380}}</ref>

The general idea of the experimental determination of the [[velocity of light]] in the manner subsequently effected by [[Hippolyte Fizeau]] and [[Léon Foucault]] was suggested by Arago in 1838, but his failing eyesight prevented his arranging the details or making the experiments.

[[File:François Arago par Ary Scheffer.jpg|thumb|right|200px|François Arago]]

Arago's fame as an experimenter and discoverer rests mainly on his contributions to magnetism in the co-discovery with [[Léon Foucault]] of [[eddy current]]s, and still more to [[optics]]. He showed that a magnetic needle, made to oscillate over nonferrous surfaces, such as water, glass, copper, etc., falls more rapidly in the extent of its oscillations according as it is more or less approached to the surface. This discovery, which earned him the [[Copley Medal]] of the [[Royal Society]] in 1825, was followed by another, that a rotating plate of copper tends to communicate its motion to a magnetic needle suspended over it, which he called "magnetism of rotation"<ref>''Annales de chimie et de physique'' (1824), vol. 27, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r9U3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA363 page 363]:  "M. Arago communique verbalement les résultats de quelques expériences qu'il a faites sur l'influence que les métaux et beaucoup d'autres substances exercent sur l'aiguille aimantée, et qui a pour effet de diminuer rapidement l'amplitude des oscillations sans altérer sensiblement leur durée. Il promet, à ce sujet, un Mémoire détaillé." (Mr. Arago orally communicates the results of some experiments that he has conducted on the influence that metals and many other substances exert on a magnetic needle, which has the effect of rapidly reducing the amplitude of the oscillations without altering significantly their duration. He promises, on this subject, a detailed memoir.)</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Arago | year = 1826 | title = "Note concernant les Phénomènes magnétiques auxquels le mouvement donne naissance" (Note concerning magnetic phenomena that motion creates) | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Itg3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA213 | journal = Annales de chimie et de physique | volume = 32 | pages = 213–223 }}</ref><ref name=Babbage1825>{{cite journal| last1=Babbage |first1=C. |last2=Herschel |first2=J.W.F. |year=1825 |title=Account of the repetition of M. Arago's experiments on the magnetism manifested by various substances during the act of rotation |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |volume=115 |pages=467–496 |url=https://archive.org/details/philtrans03806447 |bibcode=1825RSPT..115..467B |doi=10.1098/rstl.1825.0023|doi-access=free }}</ref> but (after Faraday's explanation of 1832<ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/20031#page/300/mode/1up Philosospical magazine 1840]</ref>{{rp|283}}) is now known as [[eddy current]].  Arago is also fairly entitled to be regarded as having proved the long-suspected connexion between the [[aurora borealis]] and the variations of the magnetic elements.<ref name="eb" /> In 1827 he was elected an associated member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands, when that institute became the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1851, he became foreign member.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00004595 |title=Dominique François Jean Arago (1786–1853) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=7 May 2020}}</ref> In 1828, he was elected a foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]].

In optics, Arago not only made important optical discoveries on his own, but is credited with stimulating the genius of [[Jean-Augustin Fresnel]], with whose history, as well as that of [[Étienne-Louis Malus]] and [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]], this part of his life is closely interwoven.

Shortly after the beginning of the 19th century the labours of at least three philosophers were shaping the doctrine of the [[undulatory theory of light|undulatory, or wave, theory of light]]. Fresnel's arguments in favour of that theory found little favour with Laplace, Poisson and Biot, the champions of the emission theory; but they were ardently espoused by Humboldt and by Arago, who had been appointed by the Academy to report on the paper.<ref name="eb" /> This was the foundation of an intimate friendship between Arago and Fresnel, and of a determination to carry on together further fundamental laws of the polarization of light known by their means. As a result of this work, Arago constructed a polariscope, which he used for some interesting observations on the polarization of the light of the sky. He also discovered the power of rotatory polarization exhibited by [[quartz]].<ref>Arago (1811) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucm.5326746608;view=1up;seq=103 "Mémoire sur une modification remarquable qu'éprouvent les rayons lumineux dans leur passage à travers certains corps diaphanes et sur quelques autres nouveaux phénomènes d'optique"] (Memoir on a remarkable modification that light rays experience during their passage through certain translucent substances and on some other new optical phenomena), ''Mémoires de la classe des sciences mathématiques et physiques de l'Institut Impérial de France'', 1st part : 93–134.</ref>

Among Arago's many contributions to the support of the undulatory hypothesis, comes the ''experimentum crucis'' which he proposed to carry out for measuring directly the velocity of light in air and in water and glass. On the emission theory the velocity should be accelerated by an increase of density in the medium; on the wave theory, it should be retarded. In 1838 he communicated to the Academy the details of his apparatus, which utilized the relaying mirrors employed by [[Charles Wheatstone]] in 1835 for measuring the velocity of the electric discharge; but owing to the great care required in the carrying out of the project, and to the interruption to his labours caused by the revolution of 1848, it was the spring of 1850 before he was ready to put his idea to the test; and then his eyesight suddenly gave way. Before his death, however, the retardation of light in denser media was demonstrated by the experiments of H. L. Fizeau and B. L. Foucault, which, with improvements in detail, were based on the plan proposed by him.<ref name="eb" />

==Politics and legacy==
{{more citations needed|section|date=February 2022}}
[[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>

== Last years ==

Arago remained a consistent republican to the end, and after the coup d'état of 1852, though suffering first from [[diabetes]], then from [[Bright's disease]], complicated by [[dropsy]], he resigned his post as astronomer rather than take the [[oath of allegiance]]. [[Napoleon III of France|Napoleon III]] gave directions that the old man should be in no way disturbed, and should be left free to say and do what he liked.  In the summer of 1853 Arago was advised by his physicians to try the effect of his native air, and he accordingly set out to the eastern [[Pyrenees]], but this was ineffective and he died in Paris.  His grave is at the famous [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]] in Paris. Arago was an atheist.<ref>"The same Arago who spent his time criticizing unfounded myths now peddled them. Arago the atheist now spoke of souls." Theresa Levitt, The shadow of enlightenment: optical and political transparency in France, 1789–1848, page 105.</ref>

== Named after Arago ==
[[File:Francois-Arago-1882.jpg|thumb|The ''François Arago'' of 1882]]
* The study association for Applied Physics at the [[University of Twente]] was named after Arago.
* His name is one of the [[List of the 72 names on the Eiffel Tower|72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower]].
* The outer main-belt asteroid [[1005 Arago]], an [[Rings of Neptune#Inner rings|inner ring of Neptune]], the lunar crater ''[[Arago (lunar crater)|Arago]]'' as well as the Martian crater ''[[Arago (Martian crater)|Arago]]'' were also named in his honor.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Schmadel | first=Lutz D.
 | title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
 | publisher=Springer Science & Business Media
 | year=2012 | isbn=978-3-642-29718-2 | page=139
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VoJ5nUyIzCsC }}</ref>
* Two French [[cable ship]]s were named after him, the ''François Arago'' of 1882 and the ''Arago'' of 1914/1931.
* Boulevard Arago, Paris

== Honours ==
* {{flag|Kingdom of Belgium}}: Officer of the [[Order of Leopold (Belgium)|Order of Leopold]].<ref>Almanach royal officiel de Belgique/1841 p118</ref>
* 1842 Prussian [[Pour le Mérite]] for Sciences and Arts.<ref>{{cite book |last=Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste |year=1975 |title=Die Mitglieder des Ordens. 1 1842-1881. |url=http://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/plm/mgvita/arago1786_vita.pdf |location=Berlin |publisher=Gebr. Mann Verlag |page=2 |isbn=3-7861-6189-5}}</ref>

== Publications ==
[[File:Père-Lachaise - Division 4 - Arago 01.jpg|thumb|upright|Grave of Arago at [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]] in Paris]]
Arago's works were published after his death under the direction J. A. Barral, in 17 vols., 8vo, 1854–1862 ({{cite Q|Q51430135}}); also separately his ''Astronomie populaire'', in 4 vols.; ''Notices biographiques'', in 3 vols.; ''Indices scientifiques'', in 5 vols.; ''Voyages scientifiques'', in 1 vol.; ''Grimoires scientifiques'', in 2 vols.; ''Mélanges'', in I vol.; and ''Tables analytiques et documents importants (with portrait)'', in 1 vol.

English translations of the following portions of Arago's works have appeared:
* ''Treatise on Comets'', by C. Gold, C.B. (London, 1833); also translated [[William Henry Smyth|W. H. Smyth]] and Grant (London, 1861)
*''Euloge of James Watt'', by Muirhead (London, 1839); also translated, with notes, by Brougham
*''Popular Lectures on Astronomy'', by Walter Kelly and Rev. L. Tomlinson (London, 1854); also translated by Dr W. H. Smyth and Prof. R. Grant, 2 vols. (London, 1855)
*''Arago's Autography'', translated by the Rev. [[Baden Powell (mathematician)|Baden Powell]] (London, 1855, 58)
*''Arago's Meteorological Essays'', with introduction by [[Alexander von Humboldt]], translated under the supervision of Colonel [[Edward Sabine]] (London, 1855)
*{{cite Q|Q51427133|display-authors= 1}}

==See also==

*[[The works of Antonin Mercié]]
*[[History of the metre]]
*[[Seconds pendulum]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite Q|Q51427133|title=The history of my youth|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/17642235|author=F. Arago}}
*{{cite encyclopedia
| last         = Hahn
| first        = Roger
| title        = Arago, Dominique François Jean
| encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]]
| volume       = 1
| pages        = 200–203
| publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]]
| location     = New York
| date         = 1970
| isbn         = 0-684-10114-9
 }}
*{{citation
| last      = Lequeux
| first     = James
| title     = François Arago, un savant généreux
| publisher=EDP-Sciences
| location  = Paris
| date      = 2008
| isbn      = 978-2-86883-999-2
 }}
* Walter Baily, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=85AOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA286 A Mode of producing Arago's Rotation]''. 28 June 1879. (Philosophical magazine: a journal of theoretical, experimental and applied physics. Taylor & Francis., 1879)

==External links==
{{commons category|François Arago}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=6924| name=François Arago}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=François Arago |sopt=w}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2210}}
* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0014//0000102.000.html Obituary] ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'', 1854, volume 14, page 102
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Arago}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060111124647/http://www.kunstgeografie.nl/dibbets.htm The 0 meridian in Paris] misused in ''The Da Vinci Code'' is in fact an art project by the Dutch artist [[Jan Dibbets]] (1941) made in 1987 as a tribute to the astronomer François Arago (1786–1853)
* [http://www.arago.utwente.nl/ S.V. Arago The study association for applied physics] (Dutch) at the [[University of Twente]] is named after François Arago.
* [http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/search/collection/p265101coll10/searchterm/Francois%20F.%20Arago/order/title Portrait of Francois F. Arago from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527013719/http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/search/collection/p265101coll10/searchterm/Francois%20F.%20Arago/order/title |date=27 May 2015 }}
* [https://cosmos.obspm.fr/index.php/Detail/occurrences/172 « Arago et l’Observatoire de Paris »], [https://bibnum.obspm.fr/ Virtual exhibition on Paris Observatory digital library]

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{{s-bef|before=[[Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure]]<br/>'''Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic'''}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[French Head of State|Head of State of France]]|years=6 May 1848{{snd}}28 June 1848<br/>Member of the [[French Executive Commission (1848)|Executive Commission]] along with:<br/>[[Louis-Antoine Garnier-Pagès]]<br/>[[Alphonse de Lamartine]]<br/>[[Alexandre Ledru-Rollin]]<br/>[[Pierre Marie (de Saint-Georges)]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Louis-Eugène Cavaignac]]<br/>'''President of the Council of Ministers'''}}
{{Succession box|title=[[List of Defense Ministers of France|Minister of War]]|before=[[Louis-Eugène Cavaignac]]|after=[[Jean-Baptiste-Adolphe Charras]]|years=5 April -11 May 1848}}
{{s-end}}
{{Heads of government of France}}
{{French Provisional Government of 1848}}
{{French Executive Commission of 1848}}
{{Copley Medallists 1801-1850}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Mathematics|Physics|Astronomy|Stars|Outer space|Solar System|Science}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arago, Francois}}
[[Category:1786 births]]
[[Category:1853 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century heads of state of France]]
[[Category:People from Pyrénées-Orientales]]
[[Category:Politicians from Occitania (administrative region)]]
[[Category:Moderate Republicans (France)]]
[[Category:Heads of state of France]]
[[Category:Ministers of war of France]]
[[Category:Ministers of marine and the colonies]]
[[Category:Members of the 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy]]
[[Category:Members of the 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy]]
[[Category:Members of the 4th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy]]
[[Category:Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy]]
[[Category:Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy]]
[[Category:Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy]]
[[Category:Members of the 1848 Constituent Assembly]]
[[Category:Members of the National Legislative Assembly of the French Second Republic]]
[[Category:19th-century French mathematicians]]
[[Category:Scientists from Catalonia]]
[[Category:19th-century French astronomers]]
[[Category:French atheists]]
[[Category:French Freemasons]]
[[Category:19th-century French physicists]]
[[Category:Vision scientists]]
[[Category:French people of the Revolutions of 1848]]
[[Category:École Polytechnique alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Officers of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:18th-century atheists]]
[[Category:19th-century atheists]]
[[Category:Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities]]
[[Category:French geodesists]]