Kenneth Chang

How would you word it? Key pts are 1) Cassini made repeated observations, establishing that the spot was a lasting feature and 2) a gap started in 1713. Did not want to imply that Cassini made the last observation from the beyond the grave.

It's fine with me so long if you make "others" "his successor" or successors.

I don't know who made the 1713 observation, so I was hedging a bit.

I guess some affiliation may be required for "successor." If their observation didn't overlap, you could just say that he observed it until his death in 1712, and someone else observed it in 1713.

Pretty soon, you're back to "Cassini and others observed the spot until 1713."

One way to defeat the implication (I think it's more than that) that Cassini observed through 1713 would be the addition of "collectively."

Ya know, the parenthetical about him dying in 1712 does that too.

That just retracts the literal statement that he observed through 1713, like my "Cassini and his friends stayed at the party until midnight (Cassini went home at 8 and promptly died)" example.