Born at Peyres in France, Pons started his astronomical work in Marseilles before moving to Florence as director of the observatory in 1819. He was an assiduous comet hunter, discovering 37. He is known as the codiscoverer of the Pons–Winnecke and the Pons–Brooks comets. True fame seems to have missed him, however, for though he did in fact discover the comet with the shortest period of 3.3 years it was named for Encke, who first worked out its orbital period.