Unluckier still was Guillaume Le Gentil, whose experiences are wonderfully summarized by Timothy Ferris in Coming of Age in the Milky Way . Le Gentil set off from France a year ahead of time to observe the transit {of Venus} from India, but various setbacks left him still at sea on the day of the transit-just about the worst place to be since steady measurements were impossible on a pitching ship
( Bill Bryson )
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