French astronomy during the Belle Époque. The professionalization of a scientific activity

The article describes the way French astronomy developed during the Belle Époque (ca. 1880–1914). It identifies and accounts for the particulars of a scientific occupation, which until today has been misrepresented in the history of science. We show how the practice of astronomy was rigidly rationalized and integrated into a scientific-bureaucratic regime. Established in state observatories (e.g. the Paris Observatory), astronomy was defined as a professional activity practiced by a group of “workers” of the sky. Analysis enables us to shed some light on how the cognitive content of astronomy as a discipline, the institutional framework constituted by the state observatories, and the group of professional astronomers all interacted and were in fact co-constructed.