The next pair of Venus transits was imminent and astronomers were giddy with anticipation.
Le Gentil happened to get into the astronomy game at a very exciting time. However, he soon began sneaking away to hear astronomy lectures and quickly switched from studies of Heaven to those heavens more readily observed in a telescope. Monsieur Le Gentil (as his friends called him and so, then, shall we) had originally intended to enter the priesthood. He was also an astronomer, though he hadn't started out that way. Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisière was a Frenchman with an incredibly long name.
