French astronomer, born at Montigny-le-Roi, on the 25th of February 1842; entered the Paris Observatory in 1858, and became a popular lecturer on astronomy. Retiring in 1865, he devoted himself to the popularization of science in periodicals and books. His principal publications are The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds (1862; 30th ed., 1884); Imaginary Worlds and Real Worlds (1864; 19th ed., 1884); God in Nature (1866; 18th ed., 1882); Celestial Marvels (1865); Studies and Lectures on Astronomy (9 vols., 1866–81); History of the Heavens (1872); The Atmosphere (1872); The Stars and the Curiosities of the Heavens (1881); The Marvels of the Heavens (8th ed., 1882); Popular Astronomy (1880); Urania (1889) and Earth and Sky (1893). Flammarion made many balloon ascensions for the study of aërial phenomena, and published a work, entitled Travels in the Air. In 1892 Flammarion took a deep interest in the observations of the planet Mars, and was among those who held the sensational, as well as insensate, theory that communication between the earth and our nearest celestial neighbors is not impossible.
