Nicole-Reine Lepaute , also erroneously known as Hortense Lepaute, was a French astronomer and human computer. … See more

Nicole-Reine Lepaute was born on 5 January 1723 in the Luxembourg Palace in Paris as the daughter of Jean Étable, valet in the service of Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans. Her father had worked for the royal family for a long ti… See more

Her marriage gave her the freedom to exercise her scientific skill. At the same time as she kept the household's accounts, she studied astronomy, mathematics, and "she observed, she calculated, and she described t… See more

While childless herself, she adopted her husband's nephew, Joseph Lepaute Dagelet in 1768 and trained him in astronomy and advanced mathematics, which Lalande includes in her contributions to astrono… See more

• Tables of the length a pendulum must have for a given number of oscillations per hour, in Jean-André Lepaute's Treatise of Clockmaking, Paris, augmented edition of 1767, first edited 1755
• Various contribution… See more

Philibert Commerson attempted to name the Hydrangea flower Lepautia or Peautia after Lepaute. However, the flower's accepted name later became Hortensia. This led to people believing Lepaute's name was Hortense, b… See more