Réaumur pronunciation
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René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
(1683–1757) French entomologist, physicist, and metallurgist
Born at La Rochelle in western France, Réaumur traveled to Paris in 1703 and was admitted to the French Academy of Sciences in 1708. He was commissioned by Louis XIV (1710) to compile a report on the industry and arts of France, published as the Description des arts et métiers (Description of the Arts and Skilled Trades).
Réaumur made contributions to many branches of science and industry. He developed improved methods for producing iron and steel; the cupola furnace for melting gray iron was first built by him (1720). In 1740 he produced an opaque form of porcelain, still known as Réaumur porcelain. Perhaps his greatest individual achievement was the six-volume Memoires pour servir à l'histoire des insectes (1734–42; Memoirs Serving as a Natural History of Insects), the first serious and comprehensive entomological work.
Réaumur also devised a thermometer (1731), using a mixture of alcohol and water, with its freezing point of water at 0° and its boiling point at 80° (the Réaumur Born:28-Feb-1683 Gender: Male Nationality: France French man of science, was born on the 28th of February 1683 at La Rochelle and received his early education there. He was taught philosophy in the Jesuits college at Poitiers, and in 1699 went to Bourges to study civil law and mathematics under the charge of an uncle, canon of La Sainte-Chapelle. In 1703 he came to Paris, where he continued the study of mathematics and physics, and in 1708, at the early age of twenty-four, was elected a member of the Acad�mie des Sciences. From this time onwards for nearly half a century hardly a year passed in which the M�moires de l'Acad�mie did not contain at least one paper by R�aumur. At first his attention was occupied by mathematical studies, especially in geometry. In 1710 he was appointed to the charg 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, Réaumur was elected a "student geometer" to the French Academy of Sciences at the unusually early age of 25. By 1709, however, he had turned his attention to technology, natural history, and other
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René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
Birthplace:La Rochelle, France
Died:17-Oct-1757
Location of death: Saint-Julien-du-Terroux, France
Cause of death: unspecified
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation:Biologist
Executive summary:L'Histoire des Insectes•
René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur