Abstract:
The contributions made by French astronomers from India are reviewed. The French were more successful on the scientific front than on the colonial. The first telescopic discovery from India was made by a French Jesuit priest, Father Jean Richaud (1689). Surprisingly the first ever modern worthwhile map of India was prepared in France by D'Anville (1752). All Indian maps until 1905 used the value of Madras longitude derived by a Frenchman, John Warren (1807). And finally, the first ever discovery from India - and of singular importance - in the then new field of astrophysics, was also due to a visiting Frenchman, Janssen (1868).
