Esprit Pézenas (28 November 1692 – 4 February 1776) was a French Jesuit astronomer, hydrographer, and mathematician who worked at the observatory in Marseilles.
Through his writings and teaching he spread ideas on astronomy, mathematics and navigation including advances in other European countries.
He studied at the Jesuit college and taught physics, logic, and metaphysics for a while in Lyons and then at Aix.
Tomás Cerdá worked at the Marseilles observatory under Padre Pézenas and studied mathematical techniques.
[2] Pézenas is credited with the discovery of the phenomenon of Gegenschein, a faint glow in the nightsky at the point opposite to the sun in 1731 but some have suggested that it was first observed in 1854 by Theodor Johann Christian Ambders Brorsen[3] while others have claimed that it was already known in the 6th century BC.