Dominique Francois Jean Arago (1786-1853), French physicist, surveyor, mathematician, astronomer and politician. Arago's early survey work led to him being elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences at the young age of 23, becoming secretary of the Academy in 1830. From 1809 he was an astronomer at the French Royal Observatory. In physics he studied magnetism, optics and the polarisation of light. Arago was also involved in politics, and he helped to abolish slavery in the French colonies in 1848. Engraving for Ecletic Magazine by English-American artist John Sartain.