1683-1757

French Naturalist, Physiologist and Physicist

French contemporaries referred to René de Réaumur as the "Pliny of the Eighteenth Century," and later authorities compared him to the English natural philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626). His obscurity today may be due to the fact that he considered everything scientific as having practical applications.

This French scientist was born at La Rochelle, France. His father died before René was two, and though little is known of his early education, it is thought that he received his early training from Oratorians or Jesuit priests at La Rochelle and Poitiers. An uncle then directed him to study law at Bourges, and he was later enrolled at the University of Paris. He early demonstrated an unusual aptitude for mathematics. In 1708, through the good offices of the mathematician Pierre Varignon...