• Corpus ID: 53394126

THE 1761 DISCOVERY OF VENUS' ATMOSPHERE: LOMONOSOV AND OTHERS

@article{Shiltsev2014THE1D,
  title={THE 1761 DISCOVERY OF VENUS' ATMOSPHERE: LOMONOSOV AND OTHERS},
  author={Vladimir Shiltsev},
  journal={Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage},
  year={2014},
  volume={17},
  pages={85-112}
}

• V. Shiltsev
• Published 1 March 2014
• Physics
• Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage

Russian polymath Mikhail Vasil'evich Lomonosov claimed to have discovered the atmosphere of Venus during the planet's transit over the Sun's disc in 1761. Although several other astronomers observed similar effects during the 1761 and 1769 transits, Lomonosov's claim for priority is the strongest as he was the first to publish a comprehensive scientific report, and the first to offer a detailed explanation of the aureole around Venus at ingress and egress, which was caused by refraction of the sunlight through Venus' atmosphere. His observations, more- over, were successfully reconstructed experimentally using antique telescopes during the 2012 transit. In this paper we review details of Lomonosov's observations (which usually are poorly covered by commentators and often misunderstood); compare other reports of the eighteenth century transit observations, and summarize their findings in a comprehensive table; and address recent calls to reconsider Lomonosov's priority. After reviewing the available documentation we conclude that everything we learned before, during and after the twenty-first century transits only supports further the widely-accepted attribution of the discovery of Venus' atmosphere to Lomonosov.