Paul Ferdinand Gautier

Paul Ferdinand Gautier (12 October 1842 – 7 December 1909) was a French scientific instrument maker who specialized in precision astronomical telescopes and measuring equipment.

[1][2] Gautier came from a modest Parisian family and was forced to leave school and work as an apprentice at the age of thirteen.

He began to develop several equatorial coude telescopes based on the design of Maurice Loewy which were used widely.

He worked on a large refractor with a 132 cm diameter lens for the 1900 Paris exhibition financed by the French politician François Deloncle and his private society, however this was a disaster as the telescope was not placed in an appropriate location and failure of payments for it nearly destroyed his company.

His company was purchased after his death by G. Prin in 1910 and came to be called Ets, Secretan, Epry, Jecquelin successeurs.