Louis Godin

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Louis Godin (February 28, 1704–September 11, 1760) was a French astronomer.

Godin was a member, along with Charles Marie de La Condamine and Pierre Bouguer, of the 1735 expedition to the Royal Audience of Quito in the Spanish South American Empire, to a region which is today part of Ecuador. Its mission was to determine the length of a degree of the meridian in the neighbourhood of the equator. This would also determine whether the earth's diameter were greater at the equator than at the poles, as had been conjectured by Isaac Newton. On his recommendation his cousin Jean Godin was also a member of the expedition.

As a result, he spent several years in South America, most notably in Lima where he witnessed the 1746 earthquake. While there he became lax in his scientific studies and squandered what money he had. By 1744 he had become bankrupt, and made himself professor of the university in Lima to pay his keep.

Disgraced on his return to Europe, he became director of the Naval Academy at Cadiz. He later travelled to Portugal and was again able to witness a large earthquake, the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.

As well as several Mémoires, he wrote the 11-volume Histoire de l'Académie des Sciences de 1680 à 1699, and Appendix aux Tables astronomiques de La Hire.

The lunar crater Godin is named after him.