1?4 Hisior?/ of Asironcmy for the Year 1S06. 



astronomical observations, and he now meditates a journey 

 jnto Asia. 



The city of Eriang, seven Icas^uefj north from Nurem- 

 berg, and which belonged to the kingdom of Prussia, has 

 been treated with the greaterst possible mildness ; for this 

 protection it has been indebted to its distinsiuishf'd univer- 

 sity, which enjoys the special protection oi the l*i-ench ge- 

 nerals. 



The medal which the In -'itute decrees evcrv vear. towards 

 the equinox, h)r the best work upoa asironomy according 

 to my foundation, has been adjudged to M. Svanberg, a 

 Swedish astronomer, who has published the measure of the 

 degree in Lapland, by means of which we have ascertained 

 the error the causes of which are pointed out in the History 

 of Astronomy for 1805. The medal represents the observa- 

 tory, and upon the reverse — Prcem'rum aslronomicum Insti- 

 tuti Gallici. 



John Svanberg was horn upon the 7th of April 1771 'r> 

 the parish of Calixe, thirteen leagues from Tornea. He 

 had an uncle who took charge of his education, and who 

 designed him for the church; but the first opportunity he 

 had of seeing a book of mathematics, being a Life of Mac- 

 laurin, decided his ta.->te. As soon as he left the university, 

 he gave himself up to the study of astronomy, with the as- 

 sistance of AL Nordmark, a geometrician of great merit. 



Ill 179G he was made vice-stcretary to the Stockholm 

 AcademVj and in I SOS director of the observatory. 



TheAcademy of Copenhagen proposes as a prize question, 

 to ascertain if there be a maximum and minimum in the 

 changes, produced bv tlie perturbations u{)on the orbits of 

 the planets, which depends upon the nature of the orbits. 

 The prize is 400 francs ; the pieces will be received until 

 the end of 1807. 



The Academy of Berlin has extended the time for deter- 

 mining the prize upon the variations of obliquity for two 

 years longer. 



iM. DelamLre h?.s finished the editing of all the observa- 

 tions of stars and latitudes for the meridian. There is still 

 wanting the calculation of the arcs and the latitudes for tlie 



second 



