He was awarded a doctorate in celestial mechanics in Paris in 1817; his thesis was entitled Historical essay on the problem of three bodies.

He had a new building constructed on the site in 1830 which was equipped with new instruments: an equatorial of Gambey and a meridian circle.

[3] In 1839, visual impairments prevented him from continuing his career and he gave up his position to one of his pupils, Emile Plantamour.

[4] In 1852, within a year of the publication of Schwabe's results, Gautier and three other researchers (Edward Sabine, Rudolf Wolf and Johann von Lamont) announced independently that the sunspot cycle period was absolutely identical to that of geomagnetic activity.

[5][3][6] Gautier married Angélique Frossard de Saugy in 1826, then in 1849 Louise Cartier.