M

Johann von Mädler (1794-1874)
  • Born in Germany.
    See: Wilhelm Beer.

Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811)

  • Born in England.
  • From the measurement of the mass of a Scottish mountain, he deduced a figure for the density of Earth, just a little less than later determined.
  • He realized that William Herschel had discovered Uranus, not a comet.
  • He produced the first nautical almanac.

Charles Messier (1730-1817)

  • Born in France.
  • He found more than one dozen comets.
  • He catalogued star clusters because these had misled him in his search for comets.