The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Loewy, Maurice

LOEWY, lė-vē', Maurice, French astronomer: b. Vienna, 1833; d. Paris, 16 Oct. 1907. He was given a position in the observatory at Paris by Leverrier, and after the latter's death assisted Mouchez in the observatory of Montsouris, becoming director in 1896. He was noted for his invention of the equatorial-coudé, or Elbow-equatorial, in which the observer remains seated at the upper end of the polar axis of the telescope, as if working with a microscope on a table, with the means of directing his view to any part of the heavens under his control. He also devised improved methods of determining the constants of astronomical refraction and aberration. He was joint author (with Puiseux) of &lsquo;Atlas photographie de la lune&rsquo; in six volumes (1896-1908).