Urbain Le Verrier. Statue of the French astronomer and mathematician Jean Joseph Le Verrier (1811-1877). Le Verrier predicted the existence of the planet Neptune when he deduced that irregularities in the orbit of Uranus were due to the gravitational effect of an unknown planet. He calculated the mass and orbit of the supposed planet, and, in 1846, sent a prediction of its position to Johann Galle in Berlin, who found it almost immediately. Le Verrier was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society (1846), and Gold Medals by the Royal Astronomical Society (1868 and 1876). Photographed in the courtyard of the Paris Observatory, France.