Editing Paris Observatory (section)

==Directors and staff==
The title of Director of the Observatory was officially given for the first time to [[César-François Cassini de Thury]] by a Royal brevet dated November 12, 1771.<ref>Archives nationales, O1 117, fol. 991–993. See also Charles Wolf, ''Histoire de l'Observatoire de Paris de sa fondation à 1793'', Paris : Gauthier-Villars, 1902, p. 194 and following.</ref> However, the important role played by his grandfather and father in this institution during its first century actually gave them somewhat the role of Director.

The observatory did not have a recognised Director until 1771, before that each member could do as they pleased.<ref>{{Cite journal |bibcode = 1971JBAA...81..479F|title = Cassini and the Paris Observatory|journal = Journal of the British Astronomical Association|volume = 81|pages = 479|last1 = Friedjung|first1 = M.|year = 1971}}</ref> Sometimes [[Giovanni Domenico Cassini|Giovanni Cassini]] (1671–1712) and  [[Jacques Cassini]] (1712–1756) are listed as "Directors" retrospectively. The same goes for François Arago, who also was not actually a Director although he did have a ''de facto'' position of leadership and is often credited as such.

The current President of the Observatory is [[Fabienne Casoli]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fabienne Casoli élue Présidente de l'Observatoire de Paris – PSL – Observatoire de Paris – PSL Centre de recherche en astronomie et astrophysique|url=https://www.obspm.fr/fabienne-casoli-elue.html?lang=en|website=www.obspm.fr|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref> 

* [[César-François Cassini de Thury]] (1756–1784)
* [[Dominique, comte de Cassini]] (1784–1793)
* [[Joseph Jérôme Lefrançais de Lalande]] (1795–1800)
* [[Pierre Méchain]] (1800–1804)
* [[Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre]] (1804–1822)
* [[Alexis Bouvard]] (1822–1843)
* [[François Arago]] (1843–1853)
* [[Urbain Le Verrier]] (1854–1870)
* [[Charles-Eugène Delaunay]] (1870–1873)
* [[Urbain Le Verrier]] (1873–1877)
* [[Amédée Mouchez]] (1878–1892)
* [[Félix Tisserand]] (1892–1896)
* [[Maurice Loewy]] (1896–1907)
* [[Benjamin Baillaud]] (1908–1926)

* [[Henri-Alexandre Deslandres]] (1926–1929)
* [[Ernest Esclangon]] (1929–1944)
* [[André Danjon]] (1945–1963)
* [[Jean-François Denisse]] (1963–1967)
* [[Jean Delhaye]] (1967–1971)
* Raymond Michard (1971–1976)
* Jacques Boulon (1976–1981)
* Pierre Charvin (1981–1991)
* Michel Combes (1991–1999)
* Pierre Couturier (1999–2003)
* Daniel Egret (2003-2011)
* Claude Catala (2011–2020)
* [[Fabienne Casoli]] (2020–present)