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WESTFALL CATALOGUE - SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY Dr Robert A. Hatch - University of Florida Search - Name - Word - Category - Concept - Secondary Source - Author |
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Pacchioni, Antonio 1. Dates: Born: Reggio Emilia, 13 June 1665 (some sources say 1663 or 1664). Died: Roma, 5 November 1726; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 61 2. Father: Unknown; We are told only that Giambattista Pacchioni was a citizen of Reggio Emilia. No information about the family's financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Reggio; MD, PD; He studied in his native town, Reggio Emilia, and obtained both his M.D. and Ph.D. (in a familiar Italian pattern) in 1688. After 1689 he studied with (or perhaps worked with) Malpighi in Rome. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Ant Among Pacchioni's dissertations, from 1701 on, dealing with the structure and functions of the dura mater, the Dissertatio epistolaris de glandulis conglobatis durae meningis humanae (1705) is paticularly well known and contains his description of the arachnoidal, or so-called Pacchioni, granulations. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Government Official; 1689, attended the Santo Spirito hospital in Rome. 1690-3, assistant physician at the Ospedale della Consolazione. 1693-9, town doctor in Tivoli. (Note that this was a salaried position.); In 1699 he moved to Rome and established a successful medical practice. Later he became head doctor at the Hospital of San Giovanni in Laterano and then at the Ospedale della Consolazione. He was also the physician to the Collegio Romano. 8. Patronage: Sci; It seems clear that Lancisi, who was ten years older and very well established in Rome, functioned as Pacchioni's mentor or patron. He is mentioned in connection with the move back from Tivoli and the appointments to the hospitals in Rome. Pacchioni dedicated De dura meningis fabrica, 1710, to Lancisi. Pacchioni also dedicated Dissertatio epistolaris de glandulis, 1705, to the President of the Accademia de' Curiosi (the Italian sources give the name in Italian), of which Pacchioni was a member. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; 10. Scientific Societies: Medical College (Any One); Instit. Bologna; Lp; He was guided in anatomy by Malpighi when the latter lived in Rome from 1691 to 1694. He collaborated with Lancisi on the explanatory text to Eustachi's Tabulae anatomicae (1714). With Lancisi he corresponded with Morgagni. Pacchioni was received into the Medical College of Reggio in 1697, even though he was then resident in Rome. He was taken into the Academy of Bologna (the Institute) and into the Curiosi della natura (as the Italian sources' name for the Leopoldina). SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Jacoppo
Chiappelli, 'Notizie intorno alla vita di Antonio Pacchioni da Reggio,'
in Raccolta d'opuscoli scientifici e filologici, 3 (1730), 79-102.
Maria Bertolani del Rio, 'Antonio Pacchioni 1665-1726,' in Luigi Barchi,
ed., Medici naturalisti Reggiani, (Reggio Emilia, 1935), 659-67.
Palissy, Bernard
1. Dates: Born: Agen (southern France), c. 1510 Died: Paris, c. 1590 Datecode: Both Birth & Death Dates Uncertain Lifespan: 80. 2. Father: Artisan; There is no precise information on his family background. Some biographers identify his father as a modest artisan, and I have decided to accept this. There is general agreement that Palissy was born into a poor family, which lends vague support to the assertion that his father was a modest artisan. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: None Known; He was trained in the manufacture and decoration of stained glass windows. After his apprenticeship, Palissy traveled throughout France. He was fascinated by the various soils and stones and immediately took up the study of chemistry. He studied chemistry in the labs of alchemists and pharmacists. 5. Religion: Catholic. (before 1546), Calvinist; (after 1546); He converted to Protestantism in about 1546. He was one of the first Huguenots in Saintes, and was much persecuted for his religion. He joined with other artists to form a reformed church. Although a warrant of arrest was issued as early as 1558 for this group of artists, Palissy was imprisoned in Bordeaux in 1562. He was released through the influence of the queen mother. In 1588, soon after religious warfare once more broke out in France, he was again imprisoned. He was taken to the Conciergerie, then transferred to the Bastille, where he died. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Natural History; He wrote two major books, Recepte veritable (1563), and Discours admirables (1580). The two books deal with an impressive array of subjects: agriculture, geology, botany, engineering, medicine, philosophy, etc.. 7. Means of Support: Artisan; Engineer; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; He first worked as a stained glass-window maker and decorator, then as a land surveyor. In 1543, with the re-establishment of the Gabelle, land surveyors like Palissy were in demand to survey salt marshes in France. Later he perfected a technique for making a 'rustic' enameled earthware that brought him fame and a modest fortune. Around 1562 he was appointed 'inventeur des rustiques figurines du roi'. In 1567, the queen mother, Catherine de Medici, commissioned him to decorate the new Tuileries palace. Eight years later, Palissy gave public lectures on natural history. Despite formal education, his lectures attracted the most learned men. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Aristocrat. Anne, Duc de Montmorency, the governor of Saintes, had a keen interest in the fine arts and became his patron. When Palissy was imprisoned in 1562, the governor took his case directly to the queen mother, Catherine de Medici, who set him free and appointed him 'inventeur des rustiques figurines du roi' and commissioned him to decorate the new Tuileries palace. 9. Technological Connections: Chemistry; Cartography; Hydraulics; After 6 years of tireless experimentation, he perfected a technique for making a 'rustic' enameled earthware. See above about surveying. Palissy constructed the fountains in the Tuillerie. 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Papin, Denis [Denys]
1. Dates: Born: near Blois, August 1647. He was christened on 22 August. Died: probably in England, c. 1712. The last evidence of Papin was a letter to Sloane dated 23 January 1712. He was destitute. Some early accounts suggest that he returned to Germany and died there about 1715-16, but it is extremely difficult to believe that he could have found the resources to make the trip. Datecode: Death Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 65 2. Father: Government Position; Also Denis Papin, the father was Receiver General of the Domaine de Blois; No explicit information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: France; English; Italy; Germany; Death: English 4. Education: Ang, M.D. Possibly educated initially by the Jesuits in Blois. Apparently entered University of Angers in 1661 or 62. I assume a B.A. M.D., 1669. 5. Religion: Calvinist; From a Huguenot family; Papin's life was greatly influenced by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which kept him in exile, though he had already left France, possibly because of the increasing restrictions that were the prelude to the revocation. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Engineer; Physics; Subordinate Disciplines: Chemistry; Mechanics; Hydraulics; It is difficult to know how to categorize Papin, who was more an inventor than a theoretical scientist. He began to work with Huygens in Paris in the early 70s on the airpump and associated problems. Nouvelle expériences du vide, 1675. In 1681 he published the description of the digestor (pressure cooker, as we would say), which made him famous: A New Digestor or Engine for Softening Bones. His most important work consisted of preliminary steps toward the steam engine, a topic to which he continually returned. De novis quibusdam machinis, early 90s. Nouvelle manière pour lever l'eau par la force de feu, 1707. Early, he worked at preserving food in a vacuum, and in Germany he experimented extensively on chemical means to this end. In 1688 he published a critique of Leibniz's theory of the cause of gravity; at least two further papers continued this. He and Leibniz became correspondents and explored issues of dynamics at length. He conducted a dispute with Guglielmini (in the Acta) on questions of hydraulics. 7. Means of Support: Patronage. Secondary Means of Support: Scientific Organization; Academic; Schoolmaster; He may have practised medicine in Angers a couple of years. There is no information on this, however, and later Papin always expressed himself in very negative terms about medical practice. Assitant to Christiaan Huygens, 1671-4, living in Huygens' chambers in the Royal Library in Paris. In July 1675, with an introduction from Huygens, he moved to England, where initially he obtained a position as tutor to the sons of some unnamed member of the gentry. Soon he was an assitant to Boyle, 1675-9. He became an assistant at the Royal Society to Hooke, then Secretary, 1679-81, with a salary of ?20. Director of experiments at Ambrose Sarotti's Accademia publicca di scienze, 1681-4. Sarotti, the Venetian minister to England, wanted to create in Venice an academy like the Royal Society and the Académie Royale. The academy soon failed for lack of financial support, and Papin, who had kept the door open in England, returned there. Temporary Curator of Experiments at the Royal Society, 1684-7, with salary of ?30. Charles-Auguste, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, appointed Papin Professor of Mathematics at University of Marburg, 1687-95. It was an extremely unhappy experience. Councillor to the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, 1696-1707, living in Kassel. He is said to have also been physician to the Landgrave, but I distrust this information. He lived as the client of the Landgrave, opposed by nearly everyone else at the court. He returned to England in 1707, and lived on small payments from the Royal Society. He died in absolute poverty. 8. Patronage: Scientist; Court Patronage; Government Official; Aristocratic Patronage; Gentry; Papin is an extremely interesting case. Whatever the father's status, Papin received no patrimony and was utterly dependent on patronage all his life, but as a refugee (and difficult man) he never got the position and security he needed. Initially Huygens and then Boyle supported him, and then the Royal Society. Huygens recommended him to Henry Oldenburg and remained something of a protector. Papin dedicated his pamphlet on the digestor to the Royal Society. In a letter to Huygens of 4 June 1679 (the letter of a client if ever I saw one), he sought Huygens' assistance in getting a pension from Louis XIV (for the digestor, which he had invented by then). Sarotti seemed a savior, but that quickly petered out. Then the Landgrave of Hesse. The relationship is extremely interesting; see Papin's letters to Leibniz which illuminate the whole system. The Landgrave, who was always involved in the European wars and consequently short of funds, did not lavish resources on Papin. To attract his attention, Papin constantly pursued inventions that would make spectacles. Thus the submarine. The first one failed miseraly. The second is said to have made a short trip in the river, but the Landgrave lost interest after the demonstration. Perhaps the main attraction of the steam engine was its potential to pump water into a tank at the top of the palace in order to run the fountains in the garden. Papin named his ultimate steam engine (1707) the Machine of the Elector, in honor of Charles-Auguste; again it functioned at a demonstration and again the Landgrave lost interest. It is revealing that there was apparently a public demonstration, with the Landgrave at center stage, for every invention. There is a lot of Papin correspondence published; I am convinced that it would repay study. In Hesse Papin enjoyed the support of Herr Haes, the librarian of the court. Haes died after a few years, leaving Papin without a protector at the court (other than the lukewarm Landgrave). He dedicated separate chapters of De novis quibusdam machinis to several German aristocracts, seeking to get monetary support from them. He did recieve gifts from at last one, Count von Seyn-Witgenstein. He clearly expected patronage from the Royal Society (an institution he must never have understood) when he returned to England and was sorely disappointed. I include here also that member of the gentry whose sons Papin briefly tutored. 9. Technological Connections: Scientific Instruments; Mechanical Devices; Chemistry; Military Engineer; Civil Engineering; The improved airpump was one of his most important works. It is typical of Papin that he investigated the preservation of fruit in a vacuum. Papin's entire career was driven by the goal of useful applications-pumping mines, driving ships, etc. He developed a centrifugal pump. He adapted the device to ventilating mines, and as what became known as the Hessian bellows it was applied to furnaces. Much of his activity as an inventor was in Hesse and is doubly interesting in that the support came, not from industrialists or anyone in the economic system, but from the Landgrave. His steam engine, initially to raise water, was first developed to supply a canal between Kassel and Karlshaven, and later to fill a tank that would feed the palace fountains. I get the impression that much of his frantic activity was directed towards conspicuous demonstrations that would seize the imagination of the Landgrave. In the end Papin's lack of any other base ruined him in Hesse. Add to the items above the digestor, the safety valve on the digestor, the air gun, attempts to apply the steam engine first to a coach and then to a ship, a paddle boat. He is seen as an important preliminary innovator who helped prepare the steam engine. During the War of the Spanish Succession he worked on military applications-for example, he developed a grenade launcher. He also attempted, apparently with some success, to develop a glass industry for Hesse. He worked at preserving food chemically. For all that, it appears to me that almost nothing, except the improved airpump, came to fruition. Papin appears to me as an industrial scientist before the time (or the science) was ripe. 10. Scientific Societies: Royal Society (London); Informal Connections: Friendship and correspondence with Huygens, beginning in 1669. Connection with Boyle, Hooke and Leibniz. There is a lot of published correspondence-in Huygens' Oeuvres, in Gerhard's edition (soon to be supplanted by Ranea's) of Papin's correspondence with Huygens and Leibniz, and in Bunsen's Lettres inédits de Papin. Royal Society, 1680. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Drei
Hundert Jahre. Denis Papin, Naturforscher und Erfinder in Hessen. Ausstellung
in der Universitätsbibliothek Marburg und dem Hessischen Landesmuseum
Kassel. (Schriften der Universitätsbibliothek Marburg), (Marburg:
Universitätsbibliothek Marburg, 1987). Exhibit under the directorship
of Gerhard Schneider. Charles-Armand Klein, Denis Papin: illustre savant
blaisois, (Chambray, 1987). Baron Ernouf,
Denis Papin: sa vie et
son oeuvre, (Paris, 1874). E. Wintzer, Denis Papins Erlebnisse in
Marburg 1688-1695, (Marburg, 1898). B(annister), Denis Papin. Notice
sur sa vie et ses écrits, (Blois, 1874). Patricia P. McLachlan,
Scientific
Professionals in the 17th Century, Ph.D. thesis, Yale University, 1968.
Jean Chavigny, Grandeur et misère d'un inventeur, Denis Papin,
(Blois, 1948). Gérard Rudolph, 'Les relations entre Denis Papin
(1647-1714) et Leibniz (1646-1716),' Compte rendus du 93o
Congrés national des Sociétés Savantes, Section des
sciences, 1968 (pub. 1971), 2, 55-68.
Paracelsus, Theophrastus Philippus
Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim
1. Dates: Born: Einsiedeln, Switzerland, ca. 1493 [or 1 May 1494] Died: Salzburg, 24 Sep 1541 Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 48 2. Father: Medical Practioner; He was the son of Wilhelm Bombast de Riett, an illegitimate member of the very old and noble Bombast (Banbast) family of Swabia, who practiced medicine from 1502-1534 at Villach, in Carinthia. I assume physicians were prosperous. 3. Nationality: Swiss; German; German; Birth: Einsiedeln, Switzerland. Career: no fixed place, throughout Germany and German- speaking countries. And Switzerland; Death: Salzburg, Austria. 4. Education: University of Vienna; Fer; He received his early education from his father. He was tutored (by his account) by several bishops and apparently by Johannes Tritheminus, abbot of Sponheim, who was also in contact with Agrippa von Nettesheim. He did practical work at the Fugger mining school at Hutenberg, near Villach, and was apprenticed at the Siegfried Fueger mines at Swaz. He may have studied for a bachelors degree at the University of Vienna between 1509 and 1511, but there is no evidence that he received such a degree. 1513-16, he travelled and studied in Italy, notably Ferrara under Johannes Manardus (1462-1536). He may have taken a lower medical degree. The only evidence we have for a degree of any kind is Paracelsus's own testimony given during a legal proceeding that he received a doctorate. When Paracelsus settled in Strasbourg in 1526, he was not enrolled in the physicians but in the grain merchants guild. This seems to indicate that he did not actually hold the degree that he claimed. Wolfgang Thalhauser, in his laudatory preface to Paracelsus's Grosse Wundartzney (1536), calls Paracelsus a 'doctor of both medicines.' 5. Religion: Catholic 6. Scientific Disciplines: Medicine; Iatrochemistry; Chemistry. Subordinate Disciplines: Astrology; Natural Philosophy; 7. Means of Support: Med. Secondary Means of Support: Government Position; He was employed as a military surgeon in the Venetian service in 1522. From the fact that Paracelsus appears to have been very well travelled, it seems probable that he was involved in the many wars waged between 1517 and 1524 in Holland, Scandinavia, Prussia, Tartary, the countries under Venetian influence, and possibly the near East. After a series of abortive attempts to establish a practice in southern Germany and Switzerland, he settled in Strasbourg where he had a successful practice (1526-7). He was then called to Basel (1527), where he was town physician with a rare commission and right to lecture at the university. He was forced to leave after the death of his patron (1528). Thereafter, his life was a long journey interupted by short periods of residence in southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Bohemia. He presumably earned his living as a healer and writer. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Merchant; City Magistrate; Aristocratic Patronage; At Strasbourg, Paracelsus relied for protection from his fellow physicians on the reformers: Nicolaus Gerbelius, Kaspar Hedio, and Wolfgang Capito. Capito had been in Basel earlier and was an intimate and old friend of Paracelsus's Basel patron Oecolampadius. Captio was the most powerful of the three. At Basel, Paracelsus successfully treated the leg of the publisher Froben, who was at the center of the humanist movement in Basel. This won Paracelsus the grateful recognition of Erasmus and the powerful Amerbach brothers. Paracelsus was at that time simply visiting Basel and Erasmus then expressed his desire to secure his services for Basel. Oecolampadius was responsible for Paracelsus's actual appointment. With Froben's death, Paracelsus lost a major protector, and the pressure against him began to rise. When Paracelsus insulted a judge after a prejudiced ruling against him, he was forced to leave town. Paracelsus derided the use of guaiac in the treatment of syphilis, claiming that its only benefit was to the coffers of the Fuggers, who held the import monopoly on the drug. Paracelsus's planned printing of the Eight Books on the French Disease was banned due to a decree based on the opinion of the dean of the Leipzig medical faculty, Heinrich Strower, a friend and beneficiary of the Fugger family. The Opus Paramirum (1531) was dedicated to Joachim de Watt (Vadianus), the humanist and at that time acting mayor of St. Gall, where the book was published and where Paracelsus lived for an unusually long two-year period. During his years of wandering, he was called to Moravian Kromau for a consulation on the behalf of Johann von der Leipnik, a high dignitary of the Kingdon of Bohemia. He had two audiences with King Ferdinand (of Austria?) and tried to regain some of his prestige, but it eluded him. The King later called him the biggest swindler he had ever met. The 'Carinthian Trilogy' (1538) is dedicated to the authorities of the land where Paracelsus was at the time. The 'Tartarus' is inscribed to the theologian and jurist friend of his youth, Johannes von Braut, who accepted the dedication but never undertook the promised printing. About 1541, the bishop suffragan Ernst of Wittelsbach called him to Salzburg. Paracelsus was himself a patron to Johannes Oporinus (1507-1568), his apprentice and later professor of Greek at Basel and the publisher of Vesalius (1543). His apprentice described him as living luxuriously, never short of money and fond of expensive and new clothes. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Pharmacology; Practiced medicine as his major source of support for his entire career. 10. Scientific Societies: None. SOURCES:
Pardies, Ignace Gaston
1. Dates: Born: Pau, 5 September 1636; Died: Paris, 21 April 1673; Datecode: Lifespan: 37; 2. Father: Government Position; Guillaume de Pardies was a royal counsellor of the Parlement of Navarre. Note that Ignace Pardies dropped the 'de.' The father died sometime in the period 1640-5. The sources give no indication whatever of the family's financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French; 4. Education: Religious Orders; D.D. It appears that Pardies' entire education, from his entry into the Jesuit college at Pau, was completed within the schools of the order. He pursued philosophic studies in Toulouse in 1654-6 during his novitiate. After teaching four years, he pursued theological studies at Bordeaux in 1660-4. Note that the Jesuit college in Bordeaux was incorporated into the university. He assuredly had the equivalent of a B.A. As a Jesuit professed of the fourth vow, he had a doctorate in theology. 5. Religion: Catholic. Pardies was a Jesuit. Received into the order as a novice on 17 November 1552, he was ordained a priest in 1663 and admitted to the order in 1665. He took the four vows for full membership in 1670. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mechanics; Optics; Natural Philosophy. Subordinate Disciplines: Mathematics; Astronomy; Physics; Pardies' first work, Horologium thaumanticum duplex, 1662, may not in fact have been published. He drew upon it for a description of a machine to trace sundials published about a decade later. Among his many published works, are Discours du mouvement local (1670) which also contains remarks on the movement of light, La statique ou la science des forces mouvantes, and Éléments de géometrie (1671). The books on local movement and statics were the first two books of a projected six book treatise on physics that he did not complete. Pardies had completed a work on optics when he died, and apparently Ango drew on it for his work on optics published after Pardies' death. He deserves a place in the history of physics for having intervened in the debate on the ideas of Newton and Huygens at certain decisive moments. His objection to Newton concerning his theory of color and the experimentum crucis enabled Newton to clarify certain difficult points. His unpublished manuscripts contained a theory of waves and vibrations that might well have played an important role in the development of physics. Pardies was influenced by Descartes, and some of his earliest work raised doubts about him in the Jesuit order. A generation later Pierre Bayle considered him a covert Cartesian. His Discours de la connaissance des bestes, 1672, appeared to many to advocate Cartesianism under a pretense of defending Aristotle. To explain himself to his order Pardies then composed Lettre d'un philosophe à un cartésien de ses amis. In 1673 also La créance des miracles. At Bordeaux Pardies gave a general course in 'physiology' that dealt with problems such as gravity, magnetism, and electricity. He also published on comets, and he left an Atlas céleste that was published after his death. It seems clear that for all the doubts about his attachment to Descartes the Jesuit order considered Pardies to be one of their young stars. They moved him to their most important school in France, but then he died young. 7. Means of Support: Church Living; Secondary Means of Support: Patronage; 1656-60, taught humanities at the Jesuit college in Bordeaux, first as a 'precepteur' and later (1664-5, after his theological studies) as a professor. After a final year of probation at Pau, he taught philosophy at La Rochelle (Jesuit college) as a professor of mathematics and physics from 1666-8. Pardies spent the summer of 1668 with the Comte de Guiche (at the Comte's request to the Jesuit order), instructing him in mathematics. 1668-70, taught mathematics and physics at Bordeaux. 1670-3, taught at the Collège Clermont (university level) in Paris. All of these were Jesuit colleges. Pardies caught a fatal disease while carrying out his ministry during the Easter season of 1673 in the hospital for the poor at Bicêtre. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Government Official; Court Patronage; In 1668 he taught mathematics to the Comte de Guiche, who had been his school companion in Pau. He later dedicated two of his works to the Comte. He dedicated his work on comets, 1665, to Arnaud de Pontas, President of the Parlement of Bordeaux. The Atlas céleste, published after Pardies death, was dedicated to the Duke of Brunswick. Pardies himself signed the dedication, however, and after hesitation I am going to list this as courtly patronage. In the dedication Pardies said that Louis Verjus, the Comte de Crécy, has assumed the expense of the charts. Pardies' superiors appointed him to all his academic posts. I do not count appointments of this sort, in which the order makes rational use of the skills of its personnel, as patronage. 9. Technological Connections: Scientific Instruments; Military Engineer; Cartography; Hydraulics; His Horologium thaumanticum duplex (1662) contains descriptions of an instrument to trace all kinds of dials, even on irregular surfaces. He discusses optical devices and further describes his tracing instrument in a later work, Deux machines propres a faire les quadrans avec une très grande facilité (1673). The early work also extended ideas of Maignan and Kircher to devise two different dials which I do not fully understand. He adapted a sextant to a new form to observe the comet of 1664. He had completed an Art de guerre when he died. Ango's Practique générale de fortification, 1679, was probably based on this work by Pardies. He prepared six celestical charts for his Atlas céleste which were the first fully to realize a new projection, called a central projection, in their preparation. Historians of cartography treat celestial charts as types of maps, and I list this then as cartography. In 1668 his native Pau sought his advice and assistance in making the river Gave navigable to Pau. 10. Scientific Societies: Although Pardies was never a member of any scientific society, he kept in contact with members of the Royal Society as well as the Académie. He entered into philosophic circles in Paris including the academy Bourdelot. Among his correspondents were Oldenberg, Newton, P. Maignan, Kircher, and Huygens. He knew Leibniz when he was in Paris. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Pierre
Ango, L'optique, (Paris, 1682). 'Pardies' in Pierre Costabel and
Minette Martinet, Quelques savants et amateurs de science au XVIIe
siècle, (Paris, 1986).
Paré, Ambroise
1. Dates: Born: c. 1510; Died: 22 December 1590; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 80 2. Father: Unknown. Nothing certain is known of his antecedents. His father has been thought to have been either a cabinet-maker, or a barber-surgeon and valet to the Duke of Laval. From the facts that one of his brothers was a master barber-surgeon and his sister married a master barber-surgeon in Paris it has seemed that his father was probably a barber-surgeon. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: None Known; He apprenticed to Vialot, Master Barber-Surgeon of Vitre in 1523, then to a barber-surgeon in Paris in 1531. In 1533 he became house surgical student at the Hotel-Dieu, studying anatomy by dissection until 1535. He was licensed as Master Barber-Surgeon in 1541. In 1554 he passed examination by College of Surgeons as Bachelor of Surgeon, and licensed as sworn surgeon. 5. Religion: Catholic. Although often reported to have been a Huguenot, Paré remained a Roman Catholic throughout his life. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Surgery; He reported his discovery that gunshot wounds were not in themselves poisonous and did not require cautery in his first treatise, La methode de traicter les playes faites par les arquebuses et aultres bastons a feu (1545). The treatise brought him immediate fame. He left a powerfully reactivated surgical tradition at his death. His many publications circulated throughout Europe, and had considerable influence during his life and well into the following century. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Patronage; In 1535, began his medical practice as a barber-surgeon in Paris. 1536-8, surgeon in military service under Duke de Montejan. 1538-42, 1552-90, practice in Paris. 1542-52, surgeon in military service under Vicount de Rohan. 1552-9, Surgeon in Ordinary to Henry II. 1560-2, Surgeon in Ordinary to Charles IX. 1562-74, Premier Surgeon to Charles IX and Valet-de- Chambre. 1574-90, Premier Surgeon, Councillor and Valet de Chambre to the court of Henry III. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Aristocratic Patronage; Duke de Vendome, the commander of the force at Chateau le Comte, sent a complete report of his activities to the King, commending him highly on his surgical skill in 1562. As a result, the King ordered his premier physician to record him as a Surgeon in Ordinary to the King. After Henry II's death in 1559, he remained at the court as surgeon in ordinary to the new King, Charles IX, and was appointed premier surgeon to the King in 1662. He had been in the court during almost the entire lifetime of Charles IX, to whom he was a great friend and favorite. On the death of Charles IX, he was reappointed premier surgeon to Henry III. In 1574 he obtained the King's privilege for 9 years to publish a book of his collected works. He held his position at court until his death. 9. Technological Connections: Medical Practioner; He discovered new treatment of gun wounds. 10. Scientific Societies: Medical College (Any One); He was admitted to the College of Surgeons in 1554. SOURCES:
Parent, Antoine
1. Dates: Born: Paris, 16 September 1666; Died: Paris, 26 September 1716; Datecode: Lifespan: 50 2. Father: Law; His father was an avocat au conseil. No explicit evidence on the financial status of the family. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: University of Paris; LD; When Parent was three, his maternal uncle, Antoine Mallet, a priest of Bourg, took charge of Parent's education. By the age of thirteen, Parent had developed a fascination with mathematics. At fourteen, Parent continued his education in the house of a friend of his uncle. There he fostered further his taste for mathematics. His parents sent him to Paris to study law. After dutifully completing his education in law (which I interpret to mean a degree), a vocation he meant never to practice, he turned to his cherished study of mathematics. He closed himself up in the Collège de Dormans and ventured out only to attend the lectures of La Hire and Sauveur at the Collège Royal. Sauveur considered Parent a rare genius. I don't know enough about legal education in France in the 17th century, but I take the statement about completing his education in law to mean that he attended the university and had the equivalent of a B.A. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Physics; Mathematics; Astronomy. Subordinate Disciplines: Cartography; Mechanics; Chemistry; His best-known and most comprehensive work is Essais et recherches de mathematiques et de physique (1713), a three-volume work compiled from his short lived periodical launched in 1705. He read many papers to the Académie des sciences but few were published in the Mémoires. His most frequent avenues of publication were the Journal des scavans and the Journal de Trevoux. He wrote on astronomy, cartography, chemistry, biology, sensationalist psychology and epistemology, music, practical and abstract mathematics, strength of materials and the effects of friction on motion. 7. Means of Support: Schoolmaster; Secondary Means of Support: Government Official; Patronage; When he felt that he was strong enough in his mathematical knowledge, he took on students. I take this instruction to have been his primary means of support. On account of the war, he found himself teaching mostly about fortifications even though he had never seen them. He expressed this concern to Sauveur who put him in contact with the Marquis d'Alegre. For a short time he accompanied the Marqus d'Alegre on military campaigns, studying fortifications. After his return he devoted his studies to the application of mathematics, both speculative and pratical, to the natural sciences. From 1699 until his death he was the élève of Gilles Filleau des Billettes in the Académie des Sciences. Parent's failure to advance was due to a lack of clarity in his writing; his antipathy to Cartesian science; and his aggressive, tactless, critical, and uncompromising candor in dealing with his colleagues. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; The Marquis above. 9. Technological Connections: Cartography; Military Engineer; Parent wrote on cartography, but there is no specific information on the extent of his technical knowledge of mapmaking. Parent's knowledge of fortifications was based on his practical knowledge of mathematics and not on any specific training in designing fortifications. However, he did accompany the Marquis d'Alegre on compaign. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1699-1716 SOURCES:
Pascal, Blaise
1. Dates: Born: Clermont-Ferrand, 19 June 1623; Died: Paris, 19 August 1662; Datecode: Lifespan: 39 2. Father: Government Position; Pascal's ancestors were rich merchants that attained the highest ranks of the burgess class. His father, Etienne, was a royal tax officer and a member of the petit noblesse. Although there is no explicit word about the financial status of the father, that ancestry of rich merchants, together with all the circumstances of Pascal's life, seem clearly to state that he grew up in wealthy circumstances. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; Career: France; Death: France; 4. Education: None Known; Pascal appears to have had no formal education. As a young child his father took charge of his education. He continued his education in the salons and scientific gatherings he attended with his father as a young man in Paris. 5. Religion: Catholic. In 1646 he had his first conversion experience and was attracted to the teaching of Saint-Cyran whose views were close to Jansenism. Pascal kept his ties with the Port Royalists for the rest of his life. He even came to the aid of the Jansenists against the Jesuits. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Physics; In 1640 Pascal wrote an essay on conics extending the work of Desargues in projective geometry. This essay was meant to be the outline of a much larger work, but it was never published. Only a few scholars like Leibniz and de la Hire saw the manuscript. Pascal began work on his calculating machine in 1642. For three years he worked to develop a working model. In 1649 he received a monopoly for maufacturing and producing his calculating machine. He began his barometric experiments in 1646 and continued them for eight years. He asserted that his experiments in the statics of gases and liquids contradicted the doctrine of horror vacui. In 1654 he completed a shorter work devoted to the laws of hydrostatics and to the demonstration and description of the various effects of the weight of air. This work, Traité de l'équilibre, was published posthumously by his brother-in-law, Perier, who participated in many of Pascal's experiments. Upon the completion of his work on hydrostatics Pascal turned to his studies on arithmetic, combinatorial analysis and the calculus of probability. His work is reflected in his correspondence with Fermat. Pascal wrote his Traité du triangle arithmetique in the same year but it was not distributed until 1665. Pascal continued his work in mathematics with his Éléments de géometrie (1657), prepared upon the request of Arnauld. At the beginning of 1659 he devoted his energies to the perfecting of the theory of divisibles, which was a forerunner of the methods of integral calculus. 7. Means of Support: Personal Means; Secondary Means of Support: Patronage; After his father's death, Pascal had to get repayment from his father's debtors. He invested this in shop premises and lived off of the rents. Under the patronage of Duc de Roannez he bacame involved in a scheme for draining the Poitou marshes. In 1649 he received a monopoly for the manufacturing and distributing of his calculating machine. However, he cannot have realized any income from this. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Patronage of Government Official; Under the patronage of Duc de Roannez he participated in a scheme to drain the Poitou marshes. Through Roannez he met Chevalier de Mere who introduced him to games of chance and spawned his interest in mathematical probability. The Chancellor of France, Pierre Seguier, encouraged Pascal to resume the development of his calculating machine in his early trials. In 1644 Pascal wrote a dedicatory letter at the beginning of his eighteen page pamphlet describing the machine. The text concluded that the machine could be seen in operation and purchased at the residence of Roberval. By royal decree, in 1649 Pascal received a monopoly on the machine. 9. Technological Connections: Hydraulics; Scientific Instruments; Mathematics; In 1645 after three years and 50 models Pascal produced the definitive model of his arithmetic machine which would mechanize addition and subtraction. I could argue for three different categories for this invention-mechanical device, mathematical application (in aid of calculating), and instrument. I have chosen to enter both of the final two. He is said to have invented the hydraulic press. His work on draining marshes is mentioned above. 10. Scientific Societies: Pascal participated in the activities of Mersenne's academy. His father introduced him to several salons in Paris. Pascal corresponded with several scientists of his time among them were P. Noel and Fermat. SOURCES:
Pascal, Etienne
1. Dates: Born: Clermont-Ferrand, 2 May 1588; Died: Paris, 24 September 1651; Datecode: Lifespan: 63 2. Father: Government Official; Pascal's ancestors were rich merchants that reached the highest ranks of the burgess class. His father, Martin Pascal was the receiver general of taxes at Clermont. He became secretary to the Queen. In 1586, Martin was granted the post of conseiller to the King, Treasurer of France, and General of the King's Finances in the Generality of Riom. He married Marguerite Pascal de Mons forming an alliance with another family of Pascal (of noble standing) and ensuring his children hereditary nobility. The statement about rich merchants seems clear enough-wealthy. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; Career: France; Death: France; 4. Education: University of Paris; LD; He was sent to Paris to study law, and upon completion of his degree (1610), he returned to Clermont. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics. Subordinate Disciplines: Physics; Pascal gained a reputation as a talented mathematician and musician. In 1637 he introduced a special curve (limacon of M. Pascal), the conchoid of a circle with respect to one of its points, to be applied to the problem of trisecting an angle. From 1646-8, Pascal participated in the barometric experiments conducted by his son, P. Petit, and probably his son-in-law. He also participated in the debate that followed with P. Noel concerning the existence of a vacuum. 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Personal Means; After completing his degree in law, Pascal returned to Clermont were he bought the post as elected counsellor for Bas-Auvergne. In 1625 his capacity and wealth led him to be chosen president of the Cour des Aides. In 1631 he settled in Paris to raise his children and devoted himself to the education of his son. Three years later he was selected by Cardinal Richelieu as one of five commissioners named to examine M. Morin's invention for the determination of longitudes. From 1639-1648 he held the post of intendant of the province of Rouen. In 1645 the court conferred on him the appointment of counsellor of state. 8. Patronage: Government Official; Court Patronage; Cardinal Richelieu (whom I categorize here as a governmental official) appointed Pascal to his postions as a commissioner in 1634 and as an intendant in 1639. The court appointed him counsellor of state. 9. Technological Connections: Navigation; I list here his work on the commission to examine Morin's method of determining longitude. 10. Scientific Societies: As early as 1635 Pascal frequented the Mersenne academy. Among his contacts were Roberval, Desargues, and Mydorge. Mersenne dedicated one of his works in his Harmonie universelle to Pascal. Roberval shared his mathematical research with Pascal, as did Desargues. Pascal frequented the salon of Madame Sainctoti; where he rediscovered his friend Jacques Pailleur who directed the Mersenne academy after 1648. SOURCES:
Patrizi [Patrizzi, Patricio,
Patricius], Francesco
1. Dates: Born: Cherso, Istria, 25 April 1529; Died: Rome, 7 February 1597; Datecode: Lifespan: 68 2. Father: Unknown; Military; His father, who is not identified, died in 1551. Patrizi spent his boyhood as a companion of a paternal uncle on military campaigns. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italy; Sp; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Ingolstadt; University of Padua; He studied at Ingolstadt, and at the University of Padua (1547-1554). There is no mention of a degree. 5. Religion: Catholic. Though frequently in trouble with a Inquisition, and utterly condemned after his death, Patrizi thought of himself as a Catholic and indeed was one. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Natural Philosophy; His importance in the history of science rests primarily on his highly original views concerning the nature of space, which have striking similarities to those later developed by Henry More and Isaac Newton. His position was first set out in De rerum natura libri II priores, alter de spacio physico, alter de spacio mathematico (Ferrara, 1587) and was later revised and incorporated into his Nova de universis philosophia (Ferrara, 1591). He wrote Della nuova geometria, a sort of philosophy of geometry. For him, mathematics was logically prior to physical science. 7. Means of Support: Patronage; Academic; He was in the service of various noblemen in Rome and Venice, and then lived for a time at Modena and at Ferrara. He apparently spent a fair bit of time in Cyprus and other parts of the Venetian empire in the Near East, and later (also in the service of some noble) he was in Spain for a time. 1578-92, held a personal chair of Platonic philosophy at the University of Ferrara. 1592-7, professor in Rome. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Court Patronage; Patronage of an Ecclesiatic Official; When family quarrels forced him to leave home, he found a patron in Venice, Count Zaffo. Filippo Mocenigo, Archbishop of Cyprus, was his patron after Zaffo. Patrizi dedicated his Discussiones peripatetica to Mocenigo's nephew. In the service of various noblemen of Venice and Rome he made several trips to the east and to Spain. Patrizi was trying to gain the patronage of the Este family before 1578. In 1558 he wrote a poem, Eridano, in prise of the family and dedicated to Card. d'Este. This bore fruit only later. Duke Alfonso II d'Este appointed him to a personal chair of Platonic philosophy at the University of Ferrara in 1578. He remained there until 1592. In 1591 Patrizi undertook to gain an appointment in Rome by dedicating various parts of his Nova philosophia to Gregory XIV and several prominent Cardinals-part of Panarchia (which itself is part of the Nova philosophia) to Card. Paleotti, another part of Panarchia to Card. Lauro of Monreale, Zoroaster to Card. Cajetano, and another part of the work to Card. Aldobrandini. Aldobrandini became Clement VIII the following year. Pope Clement VIII summoned Patrizi to a professorship in Rome, a post he held until his death. When the Inquisition wanted to condemn him, Clement kept him on at the Sapienza, even after the Nova philosophia was put on the Index. And after Patrizi's death the Pope gave him burial in San' Onofrio in Rome. 9. Technological Connections: Hydraulics; For Count Zaffo Patrizi reclaimed a marsh. Later, while he was in Ferrara, he developed a plan to divert the Reno in order to spare Ferrara flooding. 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted. Lega
Nazionale di Trieste, Onoranze a Francesco Patrizi da Cherso:
Catalogo della mostra bibliografica, (Trieste, 1957). F. Walkhoff,
F.
Patrizis Leben und Werk, (Bonn, 1920). P. Donazzolo, 'Francesco Patrizio
di Cherso erudito del secolo XVI,'Atti e memorie della societa istriana
di archeologia e storia patria, 28 (1912), 1-147. A. Solerti 'Autobiografia
di Francesco Patricio di Cherso,' Archivio storico per Trieste, l'Istria,
e il Tretino, 3 (1884-6), 275-81. L. Firpo, 'Filosofia italiana e controriforma,'
Rivista
di Filosofia, 41 (1950), 150-73, and 42 (1951), 30-47.
G. Tiraboschi, Storia della letteratura italiano, 7.1 (Rome, 1784),
402-9, 468.
Paulli, Simon
1. Dates: Born: Rostock, 6 December 1603; Died: Copnehagen, 23 April 1680 Datecode: - Lifespan: 77; 2. Father: Academic; Medical Practioner; His father, Heinrich Paulli (1565-1610), was professor of medicine and town physician in Rostock (1594-1604), but later moved to Nykjöbing when he became personal physician to the Queen-Widow Sophie of Denmark. 3. Nationality: German; Germany; and Denmark; Denmark; Birth: Rostock, Mecklenburg; Career: Rostock, and Copenhagen; Death: Copenhagen, Denmark. 4. Education: University of Rostock; University of Leiden; University of Paris; University of Copenhagen; University of Wittenburg; M.D. Studied at Rostock (1617) and Leiden. Studied later at Paris, where Jean Riolan taught anatomy and Rubius taught botany. Between 1626-9, matriculated at the University of Copenhagen. 1630, after a trip to England, he attended Wittenberg for half a year and received his M.D. Dansk Biografisk Leksikon gives slightly different dates in connection with education; for my purposes they do not matter. 5. Religion: Lutheran (assumed) 6. Scientific Disciplines: Botany; Anatomy. Subordinate Disciplines: medicine, geography. He made notable contributions to the technical literature of anatomy and botany. His major work is Quadripartitum botanicum de simplicium medicamentorum facultatibus (Rostock, 1640), in which he arranged plants according to the seasons, in the form of a floral almanac. He also published works on medicine and geography. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Medicine; Patronage; 1626-9, while a student at Copenhagen, he was a tutor to young nobles in Sr. 1634-9, practiced medicine in Rostock and Lübeck. 1639-48, professor of medicine, University of Rostock. 1648-, appointed professor of anatomy, surgery, and botany at Copenhagen. Simultaneously, he became physician in ordinary to the Danish King, who granted him the income from the Bishopric of Aarhus. In 1655, he gave a series of botany lectures in Rostock, though I do not know how this fit into his career. I suspect it was a sort of visiting position. 1656, physician in ordinary to Frederik III, and after 1670 to Christian IV. He received money from several bishoprics as part of this arrangement. Again the dates differ somewhat in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, but the facts are the same. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Queen Sophie of Denmark, who had employed his father, paid for Paulli's medicial studies in Rostock. King Christian IV of Denmark, to whom Paulli was physician in ordinary, was his major patron. The King granted Paulli the income from a Bishopric and Paulli did his major work in the anatomical theater (the Domus anatomica) established by the King. Dansk Biografisk Leksikon has some interesting details about his situation in Denmark, and on this subject must be accepted. According to DBL Paulli became professor of anatomy, surgery and botany at the University of Copenhagen in 1639, but then lost the professorship in 1648 through political intrigue in the university as Thomas Bartholin moved into this position from the philosophy department. Already in 1650, however, Paulli was appointed royal physician. Lack of Danish (I am relying on a graduate assistant in Danish) bars me from deep knowledge here, but the prospects are full of fascination. Is it conceivable that the Bartholins could have had a position independent of the King? I don't find it conceivable, but I don't see how to interpret these events. 9. Technological Connections: Medical Practioner; He practiced medicine. He is known more as a practioner than as a theorist, in part because of his recommendation of simple medications. 10. Scientific Societies: None SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: A. Blanck,
Die
mecklenburgischen Aerzte (Schwerin, 1874), 30. J. Krey, Andenken
an die Rostocker Gelehrten, 6, 8f.
Pecquet, Jean
1. Dates: Born: Dieppe, 9 May 1622. Died: Paris, February 1674. Datecode: Lifespan: 52 2. Father: Unknown; No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: Par; University of Montpellier; M.D. He enrolled at the Paris Faculty of Medicine about 1646. Finding the atmosphere unfavorable, he matriculated at Montpellier in July 1651, received his licence in February 1652, and M.D. in 1652. As usual, I assume a B.A. or its equivalent. 5. Religion: Catholic (by assumption) 6. Scientific Disciplines: Anatomy. Subordinate Disciplines: Medicine. The quantity of his scientific production was slight. In 1647 while still a student, he discovered the chyle reservoir. This discovery helped to confirm Harvey's law of the circulation of blood. Pecquet believed that the ideal physician was the experimenting doctor who actively examined nature instead of passively contemplating it. While still a student, he defied the reigning conceptions and engaged not in the 'mute and frozen science' of cadaver anatomy but in anatomia animata on dogs, cattle, pigs, and sheep. In 1651, He published the first edition of his anatomical experiments which enjoyed a great deal of fame. He participated in experiments on the transfusion of blood performed in 1666-7 at the Academie des Sciences. Pecquet used liquor as a medicine for many of his patients, and he in fact ended his life when he fell from a horse drunk. 7. Means of Support: Patronage; He was physician to Nicolas Fouquet, as well as to the Marquise de Sévigné, her daughter, and her grandchildren. When Fouquet was imprisoned, Pecquet was volunarily imprisoned with him and spent 3 1/2 years with him in jail. 8. Patronage: Government Official; Aristocrat; He was physician to Nicolas Fouquet and to the Marquise de Sévigné, her daughter and grandchildren. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); In 1642 he went to Paris, where he was a member of the various scientific circles that proceeded the Académie des Sciences. He was friendly with the Paris scientists Jacques Mentel, Louis Gayant, Adrien Auzout, and Claude Perrault. In 1666, Colbert chose Pecquet among the first seven members of the Académie. (Considering his connection with Fouquet, this is strange indeed.) SOURCES:
Peiresc, Nicolas Claude Fabri
de
1. Dates: Born: Belgentier, Var, 1 December, 1580; Died: Aix-en-Provence, 24 June 1637; Datecode: Lifespan: 57. 2. Father: Aristocrat; Government Official; His father was Raynaud de Fabri, sieur of Callas and conseiller in the Parlement of Provence. Peiresc's family descended from a line of high magistrates who had formed alliances with the great families in the kingdom. Everything about his life indicates that he grew up, at the least, in affluent surroundings. I suspect that wealthy might be more accurate. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: University of Padua; University of Montpellier; LD; He began his education in Aix and Avignon and continued it at the Jesuit college at Tournon. At Tournon he made his first contact with astronomy. In 1599 he travelled to Padua where he met Pinelli and Galileo. During the following year he travelled in Italy, Switzerland, and France visiting galleries, libraries, and meeting learned men. He finally settled down to serious legal studies at Montpellier under the teaching of Julius Pacius. He completed his degree in 1604. 5. Religion: Catholic. He was granted an abbacy by Louis XIII at Guitres. In 1624, after he took the tonsure, his position as abbé was regularized. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Astronomy; Com; Subordinate Disciplines: Botany; Natural History; Pal; Pinelli and Pacius inspired in Peiresc a curiosity about the natural world. In 1610 his patron, du Vair, acquired a telescope with which Peiresc and Joseph Gaultier were the first in France to see the satellites of Jupiter and the Orion nebula described by Huygens in 1658. Peiresc spent most of his time recording the times of planetary events (1610-12). Among his assistants Jean Lombard travelled widely recording the positions of the satellites of Jupiter. Peiresc used these observations to calculate terrestrial longitudes. Peiresc, with Lombard and Gaultier, saw to it that the lunar eclipse of 28 August 1635 was more widely observed than any previous one by supplying instruments and the know-how to priests, merchants, and secretaries at various embassies. With these observations he was able to correct the considerably over-estimated length of the Mediterranean. Peiresc was a patron and amateur of the sciences, art, and erudition. During the seven years he was in Paris he sponsored or assisted in the publication of important books. He surrounded himself with able and devoted assistants who carried out many experiments and voyages while Peiresc carried on his correspodence and observation at the Hotel Callas. Gassendi, who lived in Peiresc's home from 1634-7, carried out several observations for and with Peiresc. Peiresc collected and studied fossils and recognized the importance of ancient coins for establishing historical sequence. Peiresc sponsored the dissection of cadavers in his house by local surgeons who found the chyliferous vessels in the human body. His speculations on vision led him to conduct several dissections of various animals with local surgeons and his own assistants. Peiresc took great pleasure in collecting animals and plants. His garden at Belgentier was the the third largest in France. 7. Means of Support: Personal Means; Government Official; Church Living; After receiving his degree in law, Peiresc returned to Aix to take over his uncle's position as conseiller in the Parlement of Provence. In 1605 he travelled to Paris as secretary to Guillaume du Vair, president of the Parlement of Provence. The following year he accompanied Le Fevre de la Boderie to England where he met L'Obel, William Camden, Henry Savile, and other amateurs of the arts and sciences. From 1607-15 he carried out his magisterial duties in Aix. He returned to Paris with du Vair and remained there for the next seven years before returning to Provence as a senateur of the sovereign court. 8. Patronage: Government Official; Court Patronage; Aristocrat; He was secretary to Guillaume du Vair, president of Parlement of Provence. He was granted the abbacy of a monastery at Guitres by Louis XIII. He accompanied Le Fevre de la Boderie, a French ambassador to England. Upon his return to Provence, he became senateur of the sovereign court. 9. Technological Connections: Cartography; 10. Scientific Societies: In 1616 on his second trip to Paris he was introduced to the 'cabinet' of the Dupuy brothers through whom he met many learned men. Like Mersenne, Peiresc developed a large network of correspondents. He contacted people in Paris, Rome, Naples, Padua, Cairo, Aleppo, and Quebec. Sometimes his contact was to urge amateurs to make astronomical observations and other times it was to share information from Paris or Provence, or to pass on results from the investigations of others. SOURCES:
Peletier, Jacques
1. Dates: Born: Le Mans, 25 July 1517; Died: Paris, July 1582; Datecode: Lifespan: 65 2. Father: Law; His father was a prominent lawyer in Le Mans. His family was educated in theology, philosophy, and law. Peletier's family wanted him to pursue these same disciplines. No explicit information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; Career: France; Death: France; 4. Education: University of Paris; M.D. Peletier went to Paris at a young age (1530) to study under the direction of his older brother Jean, a professor at the College of Navarre. He began studying law, but he completely abandoned this course of study at twenty-one in order to cultivate his studies of letters and philosophy. He was self taught in Greek and algebra. Soon after he completed his Dialogue de l'Orthografe, he became interested in medicine. In 1550 he began his studies in Poitiers and stayed subsequently in Bordeaux, Lyon, and Rome. He finally settled back in Paris where he received his lincetiate in medicine (c. 1554). 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Subordinate Disciplines: Medical Practioner; From 1545-6, Peletier edited and annotated the Arithmeticae of Gemma Frisius for a Latin edition. His Arithmetic was reprinted without change six times in French, Italian and once again in Latin. He left his position as head of the Collège de Bayeux to take up residence at the house of the printer Vascosan while he (Peletier) developed his project of reforming spelling according to pronunciation. This project culminated in a two volume work, Dialogue de l'Orthografe (1550). In 1554, he published a treatise on algebra inaugurating the use of literal symbols made popular later by Viète. Many were hostile to his use of the vernacular in a scholarly work. Sixteen years later he had his revenge on his opposers when he published a Latin version of his Algebra with the ironical title, De occulta parte numerorum quam Algebram vocant. Soon after the first printing of his vernacular algebra, Peletier began to study the foundations of geometry. In 1557 he published In Euclidis elementa demonstrationum in which he rejected the method of superposition. He became embroiled in a lengthy dispute with Clavius over the angle of contact. A few months before his death he published his last contribution to the dispute, De contactu Linearum. This controversy was settled nearly a century later by the mathematical work of Newton. He did write a couple of works on medicine. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Medicine; Schoolmaster; After leaving school he became the private secretary to René du Bellay, Bishop of Le Mans. Through the influence of Bellay he received the position of tutor of mathematics at the Collège de Bayeux. By 1547 he was the head of this school. After receiving his medical degree he became the physician to Marechal de Cosse as well as his mathematical advisor on fortifications. He may have been a tutor to Cosse's son. During his travels and his studies of medicine he made a living as a surgeon and by tutoring in mathematics. During the turmoils of the wars of religion, Peletier left Paris and traveled throughout France and to Italy. He became the head of the Collège de Bordeaux in 1572. After lengthy stays in Annecy and Savoy he returned to Paris in 1578 to become the head of the Collège de Le Mans. There is no evidence that Peletier set up a private practice. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Aristocratic Patronage; Court Patronage; Patronage of Government Official; Through the influence of Bellay he obtained his postion at the Collège de Bayeux. He was the personal physician to Marechal de Cosse. By royal command he gave the funeral oration of Henry II from the pulpit of Notre-Dame. He dedicated his Art poetique (1555) to Zacharie Guadart, the royal financial officer. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Military Engineer; 10. Scientific Societies: Among his friends were Pierre de Ronsard, the leader of the Pleiade. He shared with these seven poets a desire to create a French literature and to use the vernacular in wider scholarship. It is unclear whether Peletier became a member of this group. SOURCES:
Pell [Pellius], John
1. Dates: Born: Southwick, Sussex, 1 March 1611; Died: London, 12 December 1685; Datecode: Lifespan: 74 2. Father: Church Living; John Pell was the Vicar of Southwick. He died when Pell was five. The mother died a year later. No information on financial status; no single word on how Pell survived. There are vague hints that there was family in the Southwick area. All that is known is that Pell enrolled in Cambridge at age thirteen. 3. Nationality: Birth: English; Career: English, Dutch; Death: English 4. Education: Cambridge University; M.A. Steyning School in Sussex. Cambridge University; Trinity College, 1624-30. B.A., 1628; M.A., 1630. D.D., at Lambeth, 1663. I don't list this; it clearly derived from the patronage of Archbishop Sheldon. 5. Religion: Calvinist; Anglican; Having been deeply involved with the Commonwealth, Pell conformed at the Restoration. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics. Subordinate Disciplines: Astronomy; Pell published Idea of Mathematics, 1638, a general program in the Comenian spirit, not a contribution to mathematics. In the mid '40s he was involved in a dispute with Longomontanus on Longomontanus' mistaken value for pi. Pell published Controversiae de vera circuli mensura, 1647. It is likely that Pell was an important influence behind J.H. Rahn's German Algebra, 1659, and if this is correct, Pell was then an innovator in algebraic symbolism. He published a table of 10,000 square numbers, and he computed the first table of antilogarithms (which was not published). He translated Lansberg's Tables in 1634 and composed 'Eclipse Prognosticator' at about that time. 7. Means of Support: Church Living; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; Academic; Government Position; Assistant master at Collyers School in Horsham, and at Hartlib's Chichester Academy, 1630-8. In London, 1638-43, apparently teaching mathematics. Professor of mathematics at the Illustrious Gymnasium, Amsterdam, 1643-6. Professor of mathematics at Breda, 1646-52. I am treating the Illustrious Gymnasium as university level, and Breda definitely was. When Pell returned to England, Cromwell appointed him to lecture on mathematics (in London, I assume) with a salary of ?200. Commonwealth agent in Zurich, 1654-8. Rector of Fobbing in Essex, 1661-85. Vicar of Laindon, 1663-85. Chaplain to Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury. He resided for some years at Brereton Hall as the guest of the third lord of Brereton, who had been his pupil in the Netherlands. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Gentry; Ecclesiastic Official; Aristocratic Patronage; Pell was a member of the Commenian group in London. The DSB refers to Haak as his patron. Later Haak apparently introduced Pell to Sheldon. He owed his professorship in Amsterdam to Sir William Boswell. He owed his position at Breda to the Prince of Orange. See above for his relation to Cromwell. Gilbert Sheldon, Bishop of London and then Archbishop, arranged Pell's two church livings and then appointed Pell as his personal chaplain. See his relationship to Lord Brereton above. Pell was twice recommended to Louis XIV for as pension, though nothing came of it. 9. Technological Connections: Mathematics; Instruments; His tables of squares and of antilogarithms were aids to calculations. Every source mentions an early work, 'The Description and Use of the Quadrant.' DNB says that it was not published. He left behind a manuscript on sundials. 10. Scientific Societies: Informal Connections: Close connection with Hartlib and the Comenian Group. Correspondence with Henry Briggs, Charles Cavendish (1641-50), William Petty, Hartlib, Brereton, Brancher. Friendship with Haak. Pell's correspondence with scientific contemporaries is in the Sloane Manuscripts of the British Library. Some of it is publided in Robert Vaughan, The Protectorate of Cromwell, 1838, and in Rigaud's Correspondence of Scientific Men. Royal Society, 1663. SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: P.J.
Wallis, 'An Early Mathematical Manifesto-John Pell's Idea of Mathematics,'
Durham
Research Review, no. l8 (1967), 139-48. Christoph J. Scriba, 'John
Pell's English Edition of J.J. Rahn's Teutsche Algebra,' in R.S.
Cohen et al, ed. For Dirk Struik, (Dordrecht, 1974), pp. 261-74.
Pereira [Pererius], Benedictus
1. Dates: Born: Ruzafa, Spain, 1535; Died: Rome, 6 March 1610 Datecode: Lifespan: 75 2. Father: No Information. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Sp, Italy; Italian; Birth: Ruzafa, Spain; Career: Italy; Death: Rome, Italy 4. Education: Collegio Romano; D.D. After joining the Jesuit order, he was sent to Sicily and Rome to complete his education. As a full Jesuit, he would have had a doctorate in theology. Picatoste says that he completed his B.A. at the University of Valencia and then entered the order. This seems impossible. 5. Religion: Catholic. 1552, joined the Jesuit order. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Scholastic Philosophy; Subordinate Disciplines: Mechanics 7. Means of Support: Church Living; In Rome, at the Collegio Romano (the Jesuit institution), he taught logic, natural philosophy, metaphsics, theology, and became a known exponent on Sacred Scripture. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; He dedicated books to Cardinals Gaetani (or Caetani) and Caraffa, and to Camilo Caetani, Patriarch of Alexandria. 9. Technological Connections: None 10. Scientific Societies: None SOURCES:
Perez de Vargas, Bernardo
1. Dates: Born: Madrid, date unknown. He published a book in 1563, with part of it dated 1560. Died: Spain, sometime after 1569 Datecode: flourished (two dates give known period); Lifespan: 2. Father: No Information. Perez claimed distinguished lineage and used the title 'Magnifico.' There is absolutely no evidence independent of his claim. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Madrid, Spain; Career: Spain; Death: Spain 4. Education: Unknown. 5. Religion: Catholic. (assumed) 6. Scientific Disciplines: Metallurgy; Alchemy. Subordinate Disciplines: Astronomy, astrology 7. Means of Support: Unknown; Few biographical details are known. He claimed his parents were of distinguished lineage, and thus he appended the title 'magnifico' to his name. From Madrid he moved to Malaga, probably to the town of Coin. 8. Patronage: Aristocracy, Court. His Fabrica del universo was dedicated to Pedro Faxardo, Margues de Molina. His De re metallica was dedicated to the 'Principe,' which I am pretty sure referred to Philip II. 9. Technological Connections: None; De re metallica talked about the utility of what it contained, but I found no evidence that Perez was actually involved in any metallurgical operation. 10. Scientific Societies: None SOURCES:
Not Consulted: Eugenio Maffei and Ramon
Rua Figeroa, Apuntes para una bibliotheca espagnola, 2 vols. (Madrid,
1873).
Perrault, Claude
SOURCES:
Perrault, Pierre
1. Dates: Born: Paris, 1611; Died: Paris, 1680; Datecode: Lifespan: 69 2. Father: Law; His father was an advocate at the Parlement de Paris. It was a talented, versatile, and close-knit family. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; Career: France; Death: France; 4. Education: Unknown; LD; He was trained as a lawyer. There is no indication of where Pierre received his degree or whether he practiced law. I don't know enough about French legal education in the 17th century (though a number in this catalog are said explicitly to have earned degrees in law), but it sounds to me as though he had at least the equivalent of a B.A. and a degree in law, which, in accordance with my practice, I list. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Hyd His experimental work on the rainfall and runoff of the upper Seine, which he reported in his major work, De l'origine des fontaines (Paris, 1674), is a milestone in the history of hydrology. He reviewed earlier hypotheses on the origin of springs and proposed an experimental investigation to prove that rainfall alone was sufficient to sustain the flow of springs and rivers throughout the year. Edme Mariotte later used more sophisticated methods to support Perrault's findings. 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Personal Means; Unknown; He was a lawyer and joined the government service as an administrator. He bought the post of receiver-general of finances for Paris (and must then have had personal means). When Louis XIV in 1664 remitted the tailles due for the previous ten years, Perrault encountered financial difficulties. He borrowed on the revenue of 1664 and was caught in the act by Colbert. He was dismissed and was forced to sell his post at a loss. The affair left him almost penniless. It is not known how he earned his living after the dimissal. His brother comments that he did not even have a valet and lived frugally. 8. Patronage: Government Official; Scientist; He corresponded with Huygens and dedicated his book to him. (I will list this, in accordance with established procedures. I am somewhat dubious that he received a monetary reward from Huygens, but this did happen during Perrualt's time of financial hardship.); It is possible that like his brothers he shared the patronage of Colbert at least until his inappropriate financial maneuvers. 9. Technological Connections: Non 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Petit, Pierre
1. Dates: Birth: Montlucon, France, 8 December 1594 (Michaud) or 31 December 1598 (Nouvelle biographie générale); Died: Lagny-sur-Marne, 20 August 1677 Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 83 2. Father: Government Official; A minor provincial official. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Montlucon, France; Career: France; Death: Lagny-sur-Marne, France 4. Education: None Known; Unknown 5. Religion: Catholic (assumed) 6. Scientific Disciplines: Physics; Astonomy. 7. Means of Support: Government Position; 1626, he became controleur de l'election in Montlucon. 1633, traveled to Paris where he was appointed commissaire provincial de l'artillerie and Ingenieur du roi, charged with visiting all the ports of France and Italy. 1642, he is listed as conseiller du roi, ingenieur du roi, and geographe du roi. 1649, he became Intendant General des Fortifications. 8. Patronage: Government Official; Court Patronage; Petit's father was a minor provincial official. He resigned his post as controleur for his son's sake. Richelieu was directly responsible for his appointment in 1633. Louis XIV commissioned Petit to write a work on comets. Dissertation sur la nature des Cometes (1665) is dedicated to Louis. 9. Technological Connections: Scientific Instruments; Military Engineer; Civil Engineer; Cartography; His collection of telescopes and instruments was among the best in Paris. It included a filar micrometer, which Petit invented or developed, later used by Cassini I. There is debate as to whether Petit was independent of Auzout in this instrument. I assume some familiarity with military and civil engineering and cartography, based on the positions he held. 10. Scientific Societies: Royal Society (London); He was a member of the group of savants meeting at Mersenne's lodgings, and worked with or knew a large number of the scientists of the period. In 1646 he collaborated with Blaise Pascal repeating Torricelli's experiments on barometric vacuum [Pierre Humbert, L'oeuvre scientifique de Blaise Pascal (Paris, 1947), pp. 73 ff.]. A member of the Montmor academy, he was a forceful advocate for the establishment of an official scientific organization, but was passed over by Colbert in the initial selection of members of the Académie in 1666. As far as I know, he never was made a member. [see Harcourt Brown, Scientific Organizations in the Seventeenth Century (Baltimore, 1934), passim]; He was a regular correspondent with Henry Oldenburg and played a central role facilitating the exchange of ideas between the two communities. He was elected a foreign fellow of the Royal Society in 1667. SOURCES:
Petty, William
1. Dates: Born: Romsey, Hampshire, 26 May 1623; Died: London, 16 December 1687; Datecode: Lifespan: 64 2. Father: Artisan; Anthony Petty was a cloth worker and taylor; he owned his own home and probably some farm land. Aubrey states that he left little or no estate, and most biographers conclude that he was poor. It is worth noting, however, that William Petty owned a house in Romsey, presumably the paternal one. On the other hand, William went to sea at age fifteen as a cabin boy. On the whole, I conclude that the father was poor. 3. Nationality: Birth: English; Career: English; Death: English 4. Education: University of Utrecht; University of Leiden; Oxford University; When stranded in Caen in the 1630s, Petty studied for a year with the Jesuits. Studied Medicine at Utrecht, Leiden, Amsterdam, and Paris, 1643-46. He matriculated in Leiden in 1644, and I think there would have been no place to study medicine in Utrecht except the university. Amsterdam is another matter; virtually nothing is said about it. It seem clear that in Paris Petty studied outside the university. No evidence of B.A. and every reason to think there was none. He is one of two in this catalogue for whom I will list an M.D. without a B.A. or its equivalent. He went to Oxford about 1648 to study medicine. M.D., 1650. 5. Religion: Calvinist; Anglican; Romsey was a Puritan town; Petty stood on the Parliamentary side in the Civil War (though he avoided military service), and he thrived under the Commonwealth. I think that I must assume he began as a Puritan, even though there is no evidence of it that I know of. He certainly conformed upon the Restoration. Petty was hardly a religious man, though in that age he inevitably wrote some on religious topics-including a much admired Latin metrical rendition of Psalm 104. He was virulently anti-clerical, apparently of whatever denomination. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Demography; Geography; Cartography; Subordinate Disciplines: Anatomy; Natural Philosophy; Petty was a general virtuoso who was intimately associated with the partisans of the new natural philosophy who organized the Royal Society. His central area of intellectual activity was what we would call economics, of which he is seen as virtually the original source. He was the first writer on these topics who attempted to base his conclusions on statistical data, and in general (reflecting the influence of the new natural philosophy) he liked to talk about applying number, weight, and measure to such questions. Treatise of Taxes and Contributions, 1662. Verbum sapienti, c. 1665 (published 1691) contains the first estimate of national income. Political Anatomy of Ireland, c.1672 (published 1691) advocates an economic policy supported by economic geography. Political Arithmetick, c. 1671-6 (published 1690). He was closely associated with John Graunt and his Natural and Political Observations, 1662, which started the sciences of demography and statistics. Some have claimed that Petty was really the author, but this is not generally accepted. Petty was, however, the author of ten essays on the populations of London, Dublin, Paris, Rome, and other cities. Petty was one of the extraordinary intellects of the age; aside from demography, his most productive areas fell outside the precincts of this study. His general map of Ireland, published in Hiberniae delineatio, 1684, which stemmed from the Down Survey, occupied much of his time between 1660 and 1678. It is received as the foundation of modern Irish geography. I do not see how clearly to separate it from cartography, and I list both. Anatomical questions occupied him early on. He was known as a skilled preparer of anatomical specimens, and Landowne affirms that a fair number of what he calls medical (and I interpet as anatomical) manuscripts survive. In 1674 he delivered A Discourse to the Royal Society Concerning the Use of Duplicate Proportion, published as a separate pamphlet that year. It is an exercise in the new mechanical philosophy. 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Personal Means; Medicine; Secondary Means of Support: Academic; Schoolmaster; Patronage; Went to sea as a cabin boy; later served in the navy, 1638-42. According to Petty, when deposited in Caen, c.1639, he supported himself by giving lessons in English and navigation, and by petty trading. It is quite unclear how he supported himself (and his younger brother) on the continent in the period 1643-6. He had superb confidence and a knack for getting by. Strauss suggests that he worked as a journeyman jeweller while he studied. When he returned to England in 1646, he pursued his father's trade as a clothier for a time, and devoted himself to mechanical improvements in textile processes. When Evelyn first met Petty, c. 1647, he was tutor to a neighbor of Evelyn. He apparently also earned money by preparing anatomical specimens. Soon after he went to Oxford he became a fellow of Brasenose College and then vice-principal; Professor of anatomy at Oxford 1650. He left Oxford very soon, but he retained the fellowship until 1659. Professor of Music at Gresham College, 1651; he retained this position until 1660. Physician-general to Cromwell's army in Ireland, and personal physician to the commander, 1653-9. Salary of ?400 plus the right of private practice. He received a large payment for his land survey in Ireland, the Down Survey, (more than ?13000), 1655-6. He also arranged to get a very large estate for himself. Personal secretary to Henry Cromwell, the effective governor of Ireland, and Clerk of the Council, 1655-9. In 1656 he was appointed to the Commission to distribute forfeited lands, and with the other commissioners absent he virtually was the Commission. Petty became very wealthy during the Commonwealth, and lived thereafter on his personal wealth. Petty never got a significant position, though he coveted one, during the Restoration. He did become Registrar to the Irish Court of Admiralty in 1676, and for a time he was a Commissioner of the Navy in England. He became quite bitter about his effective exclusion from power. 8. Patronage: Government Official; Merchant; Aristocratic Patronage; Court Patronage; Gentry; I have not found who stood behind Petty's initial appointments-at Oxford and then in Ireland. The whole of his future career hung on them; I assume they were political figures in the Puritan regime. We are told that John Graunt was the key figure in Petty's appointment at Gresham College. Sir Hardress Waller strongly supported Petty's land survey in Ireland. Waller's daughter became Petty's wife much later. In Ireland, he gained the support of Henry Cromwell. At the Restoration Petty apparently had the support of the Duke of Ormond, the most powerful man in Ireland and for a time the Lord Lieutenant, and this support was crucial to Petty's success in retaining his estate. He soon alienated Ormond, however, and from that time Ormond helped to thwart Petty's higher ambitions. Ormond introduced Petty to Charles, whom Petty charmed (though he also aroused suspicions apparently). In any event, Charles knighted him in 1661 when it was clear that Petty accepted the Restoration, and Charles, by royal letter, confirmed him in his estate. Petty was twice offered peerages, but refused both times. James II also valued him, and shortly before his (James') flight from England, as a tribute to Petty's memory, he raised Petty's widow and eldest son to the peerage as Baroness Shelburn and Lord Shelburn. Petty hardly used the device of dedications. This applies also to the maps in Hiberniae delineatio. The only dedication I have found was his Discourse Concerning Duplicate Proportion, 1674, which he dedicated to both William Cavendish (in a dedication looking back to the time in Paris in the 40s) and Lord Brouncker. Neither was in a position to aid Petty's career, and I don't consider the two dedications as part of the system of patronage. Petty did put the royal arms of England and of Ireland on the title page of the Delineatio and he did get a royal privilege for the book (which he valued at ?100 per annum in his will). Patronage, which was so kind to Petty at the beginning of his career, deserted him when he was wealthy and wanted an official position. His papers are apparently full of his scorn for the arts of the courtier. The lack of dedications is surely revealing. He refused to compromise the radical policies he kept advocating. And he grew bitter from his exclusion, even though he was largely responsible for it. 9. Technological Connections: Cartography; Mechanical Devices; Navigation; Medicine; The Down Survey and the later map of Ireland. What he called a double-writing instrument, c.1646. He invented miscellaneous other things, such as a mechanical grain planter. There were also inventions associated with dying and cloth making. He had hopes of supporting himself by his inventions. Later he contributaed papers on applied mechanics and practical inventions to the Royal Society, and he proposed fixing an engine (not described) with propelling power to a ship. He devised a new carriage. Designed and constructed three twin-hulled ships 1662-4 and 1684. He delivered a discourse on building ships to the Royal Society. Medical practice. Although I do not know how to categorize it, Petty set up an industrial colony, making iron among other things, on his estate in Kerry. The colony thrived until the Catholic reaction destroyed it about 1687. 10. Scientific Societies: Royal Society (London); Medical College (Any One); Informal Connections: Friendship with Hobbes and Sir Charles Cavendish in Paris, and Samuel Hartlib and John Pell later in London. For Hartlib he wrote a pamphlet on education in the Baconian tradition. Acquaintance with John Evelyn. Connection with Oxford group which met originally in Petty's lodgings. Royal College of Physicians, 1651. Royal Society, 1660; Petty was part of the group that initiated the Society. He was named to the original Coundil specified in the first charter; frequently on the Countil thereafter and vice-president, 1673. In Dublin he endeavored to organize a similar society, the Dublin Society, in 1684. SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: Tony
Aspromourgos, 'The Life of William Petty in Relation to His Economics:
A Tercentenary Interpretation,' History of Political Economy, 20
(1988), 337-56. Irvine Massson, 'Sir William Petty, F.R.S.' Notes and
Records of the Royal Society, 15 (1960); 79-90.
Peyer, Johann Conrad
1. Dates: Born: Schaffhausen, Switzerland, 26 December 1653; Died: Schaffhausen, 29 February 1712 Datecode: - Lifespan: 59; 2. Father: Aristocrat; He was born into a patrician family. No solid information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Career: Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Death: Schaffhausen, Switzerland. 4. Education: Par; University of Montpellier; University of Basel; M.D. Studied medicine in Basel. Studied medicine in Paris under J. Guichard de Verney. Studied medicine in Montpellier under Vieussens. 1681, recieved his M.D. from Basel. I assume the equivalent of a B.A. 5. Religion: assume Calvinist 6. Scientific Disciplines: Pharmacology. Subordinate Disciplines: Anatomy; Zoology; Medical Practioner; With J.J. Wepfer and J.C. Brunner, he formed the 'Schaffhause trio,' which provided the explanation of symptoms by connecting them with the lesions in the body and performed experiments on animals to study either the functioning of organs or the effects of medicines. In 1682 he described the lymphatic nodules and masses located in the walls of the ileum that now bear his name. He achieved an artificial cardiac activity lasting several hours. He also discovered hermaphroditism of the pulmononate snail and the epizootic disease that may have been foot-mouth disease. He published several works. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Schoolmaster. It seems that he supported himself throughout his career as a physician, though he later also held a position in the local gymnasium. Through the 1680s, he collaborated with his teacher Jakob Wepfer and the latter's son-in-law, Johann Conrad Brunner in research, but they eventually had a falling out. He then spent the rest of his life as a professor of logic, rhetoric and medicine at the local gymnasium. 8. Patronage: None Known; 9. Technological Connections: Medical Practioner; He did practice medicine. 10. Scientific Societies: Lp; He was a member of the Academia Naturae Curiosorum Sacra under the name 'Pythagoras.' SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Bernhard
Peyer-Amsler, 'Johann Conrad Peyer 1653-1712,' in Reinhard Frauenfelder,
ed., Geschichte der Familie Peyer mit dem Wecken 1410-1932 (ZÜrich,
1932), 299-346. The library which has this won't lend it.
Picard, Jean
1. Dates: Born: La Flèche, 21 July 1620; Died: Paris, 12 October 1682; Datecode: Lifespan: 62 2. Father: Pub; Picard's father was almost certainly Jean Picard, a bookseller in La Flèche; possibly I should consider him a small merchant in a provincial town, but I am listing everyone connected with the book trade under 'Pub.' Nothing is known of Picard's youth. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French. 4. Education: University of Paris; M.A. Picard probably did his early studies at the Jesuit college at La Flèche. Considerably later he earned an M.A. from Paris is 1650. As usual, I assume a B.A. There is no indication of what he did between La Flèche and his studies in Paris, a period of about twelve years. 5. Religion: Catholic. Picard was ordained a priest in 1650. He held at least four benefices. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Astronomy; Cartography; Instruments. Subordinate Disciplines: Physics; Optics; Hydraulics; The usual story of Picard is that he was the gardener of the Duke of Crequi. Jacques de Valois, having met Picard, inspired him to make astronomical observations. The Picolet volume demonstrates that this story is not true. Picard became very involved in astronomy and made observations with Gassendi in Paris in the period 1645 to 1652. With Auzout he perfected the movable-wire micrometer and utilized it to measure the diameter of the sun, moon, and planets. In 1667 Picard applied the astronomical telescope to the quadrant and the sector expanding their usefulness in observations. He made other innovations in instrumentation as well. Picard became an important member of the group of academiciens carrying out cartographic measurements. He was placed in charge first of making a map of the region of Paris and then of the operation to remeasure an arc of the meridian. He utilized Snell's method of triangulation. His method and measurements were the topic of his Mesure de la terre (1671). He was also an important member of the team that began to compile a map of France based on scientific principles. He was a major figure in the development of scientific cartography. In 1673 he was at the Paris observatory collaborating with Cassini, Roemer, and La Hire on the institute's regular project of observations. Picard directed his attention to other projects of the Académie such as the surveying operations at Marly and Versailles, the whole problem of supplying Versailles with water (a project in which he was central) and barometric experiments and other topics of physics. He left behind papers on hydraulics. Picard was also skilled in optics. He made suggestions to improve the telescope and left behind manuscripts on dioptrics. 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Church Living. Secondary Means of Support: Academic. There is some evidence to suggest that Picard taught in the University of Paris during the 1650's, but his life during this period is very obscure. Picard was apparently not one of the founding members of the Académie in 1666. However, he was appointed in 1667 with a pension of 1200 livres, raised to 1500 in 1669. From that time he spent his entire career devoted to Académie projects. When He died, Picard held two priories and two other minor benefices, all four of them in his native Anjou. Although the exact dates have not been established, he received one of the priories (worth about 400 livres per annum) about 1661, and the other (worth about 300 livres per annum) between 1661 and 1675. The two minor benefices were worth about 100 livres together. Picolet concludes that Picard had an income of between 700 and 1000 livres in addition to his pension from the Acadmie. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Sci; In 1664 Picard was the confidant of Abbé de Richelieu (a great-nephew of the Cardinal), and there is good cause to believe that he received at least one of his benefices from the Abbé. Olmstead offers convincing evidence that Auzout, who was a well established astronomer at the time, was directly responsible for Picard's appointment to the Académie. 9. Technological Connections: Scientific Instruments; Cartography; Hydraulics; With Auzout, he perfected the movable-wire micrometer. He was the one who incorporated the astronomical telescope into surveying instruments such as the quadrant and sector. He also developed a new leveling instrument (also with telescope attached) that remained the standard one used in leveling for a long time. He was the central figure in planning and implementing the water supply for the fountains at Versailles. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1666-82; Picard was not a founding member of the Académie but was added soon after its establishment. He corresponded directly or indirectly with Erasmus Bartholin, Johan Blaeu, Martin Fogel, Michel Antoine Hacki, Johann Hevelius, Jan Hudde, Lodewijk Huygens, Stanislaus Lubieniecki de Roles, Andreas Spole, and Jules Reichelt. His correspondence with Hevelius (on telescopic sights) has been published. SOURCES:
Piccolomini, Arcangelo
1. Dates: Born: Ferrara, 1525 (some say 1526); Died: Rome, 19 October 1586; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 61 2. Father: Unknown; Little is known of Piccolomini's early life. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: France; Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Ferrara; M.D., Ph.D. He received his doctorate in philosophy and medicine at Ferrara, probably in the late 1540's. I assume a B.A. or its equivalent. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Anatomy; Pharmacology; Subordinate Disciplines: Medicine; Embryology; His works include In librum Galeni de humoribus commentarii (1556), which contained his translation of Galen's De humoribus, and Anatomicae praelectiones (Rome, 1586), his course of anatomical lectures. To his anatomical descriptions he added pathological observations. Anatomical description was less important in his work than physiological theory was, theory drawn from Galen, Aristotle, and neoplatonims. His Praelectiones contain a long dissertation on generation. 7. Means of Support: Patronage; Academic; Secondary Means of Support: Government Position; After he received his degree he taught philosophy at the University of Bordeaux. About 1557, under the patronage of Bishop Michele della Torre, the Papal nunzio to France, he went to Rome, where he was named physician to Pope Pius IV (1559-65). (Marini states that he was physician to Paul IV in 1557.) He retained this position until his death, serving in turn Pius V, Gregory XIII, and Sixtus V. Della Torre, who was elevated to the status of cardinal about 1657, continued to be a protector of Piccolomini. In 1575 he was given the chair in medical practice at the Sapienza, with a combined salary of 400 scudi. In 1582 he became general protomedicus for the Papal States. 8. Patronage: Patronage of an Ecclesiatic Official; In 1556 he dedicated his first work to Bishop Michele della Torre, the papal nunzio in France. Under the Bishop's patronage he went to Rome. In was physician in turn to Popes Paul IV, Pius IV, Pius V, Gregory XIII, and Sixtus V. He dedicated his Praelectiones to Sixtus. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; 10. Scientific Societies: Medical College (Any One); A member of the Medical College of Rome. Protofisico of the College in 1580. SOURCES:
Pires, Tomé
1. Dates: Born: Portugal, before 1511. Beyond the knowledge that he has an apothecary, nothing is known about him before 1511, and he disappeared in 1522. Died: China, after 1522 Datecode: flourished (two dates give known period); Lifespan: 2. Father: Pharmacology; He was the royal apothecary; after hesitation I have categorized him as apothecary rather than governmental official. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Portugal; Career: Portugal and Portuguese colonial society; Death: China (i.e., non-European) 4. Education: None Known; Certainly no university education 5. Religion: Jew, Catholic. There is good evidence to think he was from a converted Jewish family. He conformed to Catholicism. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Pharmacology, Geography. His letter to the King of Portugal on drugs of the orient was almost the beginning of European knowledge of them. His manuscript Suma oriental, on the geography, ethnography and commerce of the orient, unknown in his own time, portrays European knowledge of the East at the beginning of the 16th century. 7. Means of Support: Pharmacology; Merchant; Government Official; The son of a royal apothecary, and an apothecary himself. Nothing else is known about him for certain before he arrived in India in 1511, as the king's factor for trading in drugs, with a salary. He clearly traded on his own hook also, and made himself wealthy within a very short time. Albuquerque sent him to Malacca to assist the factor there and he was subsequently named registrar and checker at the entrepot there (again a salary). He went along as clerk on a Portuguese fleet to Java and appears to have owned some of the goods being traded. In 1516, the Portuguese officials in India selected him ambassador to China on the occasion of the first Portuguese voyage there. He di |