Jean-Charles Houzeau
Jean-Charles Houzeau de Lehaie (October 7, 1820 – July 12, 1888) was a Belgian astronomer and journalist. A French speaker, he moved to New Orleans after getting in trouble for his politics in Belgium. In the U.S. he continued his journalistic, astronomical, and political pursuits. He was an abolitionist and joined with unionists in Texas before the American Civil War. In New Orleans he worked with Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez at the newspapers he founded in the 1860s. Houzeau migrated to Jamaica in the postwar years. After a period here, he received reinstatement from an observatory in  Brussels and returned to Europe to work. He came back to Texas for an astronomical event. He published stirring memoirs and other accounts of his adventures and contacts during his travels, as well as several works on astronomical subjects. Life. Houzeau was born in 1820 in Havré (a small city near Mons); at the time it was within the Netherlands , and was later included in the independent nation of Belgium. From 1842, he worked as a voluntary assistant at the Brussels Observatory and began writing papers. He eventually became the observatory's director. He travelled frequently during his career, to  Paris, the United Kingdom, United States, Mexico, and Jamaica. After being removed from the Belgian Royal Observatory for "outspoken political views", Houzeau migrated to the United States. In Texas by 1858, he first worked as a surveyor. He moved to Uvalde, where he organized early scientific expeditions. He believed in the abolition of slavery and aided the escape of some notable unionists from San Antonio before the American Civil War. He soon fled to Mexico, disguised as a Mexican laborer for his escape. Later in New Orleans, when the city had been taken by Federal forces, he worked with Dr.  Louis Charles Roudanez, a physician who founded the bilingual " New Orleans Tribune - La Tribune de la Nouvelle-Orléans" in 1864. During a period of fierce intraparty rivalries, Roudanez lost outside support and the newspaper closed after the election in 1868 of a Northern Republican as governor of Louisiana. Houzeau then migrated to Jamaica, where he lived for eight years. Finally, having kept his European contacts, he was reinstated as director of the Royal Observatory in Brussels. He returned to Belgium and his work there as an astronomer. In December 1882, however, Houzeau made a return trip to Texas. He led  a scientific expedition, accompanied by Albert Lancaster|Albert Benoît Lancaster and Charles Emile Stuyvaert , to San Antonio to observe a locally visible transit of Venus across the face of the sun. At the time, this was a method of measuring time and gravity. Works. His published works include: External links. Category:1820 births Category:1888 deaths Category:Belgian emigrants to the United States Category:19th-century Belgian astronomers Category:People from Mons Category:People from Uvalde, Texas