Horace Bénédict de Saussure
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Horace Bénédict de Saussure (French pronunciation:
Life and work
Horace Bénédict de Saussure was born 17 February 1740, in Conches, near Geneva (today in Switzerland but then an independent republic), and died in Geneva 22 January 1799.
Saussure's family were Genevan patricians. His father, Nicolas de Saussure, was an agriculturist and author.[2] Because his mother was sickly, Saussure was brought up by his mother's sister and her husband the Genevan naturalist Charles Bonnet who sparked Horace-Bénédict's early interest in botany.[3] After attending the "Collège" of his hometown, he completed his studies at the Geneva Academy in 1759 with a dissertation on heat (Dissertatio physica de igne). In 1760, he made the first of numerous trips to Chamonix Valley, at the foot of Mont Blanc, to collect plant specimens for the noted Swiss anatomist, physiologist and botanist Albrecht von Haller.[4] In 1760, Saussure offered a reward to the first man to reach the summit of Mont Blanc.[5] Inspired by his uncle, Charles Bonnet, the young Saussure also did research on the physiology of plants and published Observations sur l'écorce des feuilles et des pétales (1762). The same year, at 22, he was elected professor of philosophy at the Academy of Geneva,[6] where he lectured on physics one year, and on logic and metaphysics the next. He taught there until 1786, occasionally also lecturing on geography, geology, chemistry, and even astronomy.
Saussure's early interest in botanical studies and glaciers[7] soon led him to undertake other journeys across the Alps. In 1767, he completed his first tour of Mont-Blanc, a trip that did much to reveal the topography of the snowy portions of the Alps of Savoy. He also carried out experiments on heat and cold, on the weight of the atmosphere and on electricity and magnetism. For this, he devised what became one of the first electrometers. Other trips led him to Italy, where he studied Mt. Etna and other volcanoes (1772–73),[8] and to the extinct volcanoes of the Auvergne, in France.[9]
Although a patrician, Saussure held liberal views that induced him to present in 1774 a plan for the development of scientific education in the Geneva College, which would be open to all citizens, but this attempt failed. He was more successful in advocating the creation of the "Société des Arts" (1776), inspired by the London Society for the Improvement of Arts.
Beginning in 1774, Saussure sought to reach the summit of Mont-Blanc on the side of Val Veny (now Italy) accompanied by the
Obsessed by the measurement of meteorological phenomena, Saussure invented and improved many kinds of apparatus, including the
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Anemometer: a metal plate catches the wind and weight keep it still; their mass measure the strength of the wind (MHS Geneva).
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Electrometer
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Saussure's repeating circle, on display at the Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de Genève
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Compound microscope made for Saussure by Adams, on display at Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de Genève
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Cyanometer, used for measuring the blueness of the sky, from the collection of the Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de Genève
In 1788, Saussure spent 17 days making meteorological observations and physical measurements on the Col du Géant (3,371 m).
In 1789, Saussure climbed the
All of Saussure's observations and experiments from seven Alpine journeys were summed up and published in four quarto volumes, under the general title of Voyages dans les Alpes (1779 – 1796) (There was an octavo issue in eight volumes, issued from 1780 to 1796). The non-scientific portions of the work were first published in 1834, and often since, as Partie pittoresque des ouvrages de M. de Saussure.[6]
Significance
The Alps were the focus of Saussure's investigations. He saw them as the grand key to the true theory of the earth, and they gave him the opportunity to study geology in a manner never previously attempted.[13] Saussure closely examined the inclination of the strata, the nature of the rocks, the fossils and the minerals.[6]
Saussure had a thorough knowledge of the chemistry of the day and applied
Saussure carried barometers and boiling-point thermometers to the summits of the highest mountains, and estimated the relative humidity of the atmosphere at different heights, its temperature, the strength of solar radiation, the composition of air and its transparency. Then, he investigated the temperature of the earth at all depths to which he could drive his thermometer staves, and the course, conditions and temperature of streams, rivers, glaciers and lakes, even of the sea.[6]
Saussure adapted the thermometer to many purposes: for ascertaining the temperature of the air he used one with a fine bulb hung in the shade or whirled by a string, the latter form being converted into an
With these instruments Saussure showed that the bottom water of deep lakes is uniformly cold at all seasons, and that seasonal changes in temperature take six months to penetrate to a depth of 30 ft. in the earth. He recognized the immense advantages to meteorology of high-level observation stations, and whenever it was practicable he arranged for simultaneous observations to be made at different altitudes for as long periods as possible.[6]
Saussure was particularly influential as a geologist,[15] and although his ideas on the underlying principles were often erroneous, he was instrumental in greatly advancing that science. He was an early user of the term "geology"—see the "Discours préliminaire" to volume I of his Voyages,[6] published in 1779—though by no means its inventor as some have claimed, the English word having been used in the 1680s and its Latin counterpart "geologia" during the previous several centuries.
In 1767, Saussure constructed the first known Western
In 1784, Saussure was elected a foreign member of the
Saussure died in 1799 in Geneva.
Recognition
The
His work as a mineralogist was also recognized. Saussurite is named after him.[22] The lunar crater Saussure is also named after him.
Saussure was honoured by being depicted on the 20 Swiss franc banknote of the sixth issue of Swiss National Bank notes (1979 to 1995, when replaced by the eighth issue; the notes were recalled in 2000 and became valueless on 1 May 2020).
Saussure's son
His daughter Albertine Necker de Saussure was a pioneer in the education of women.
His great-grandson Ferdinand de Saussure was an important linguist and semiotician.[23]
Trivia
In his On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason,[24] while discussing how reason affects our perception of distance, Arthur Schopenhauer includes an anecdote that Saussure, "when on the Mont Blanc,... saw so enormous a moon rise, that, not recognizing what it was, he fainted with terror".
Notes
- ^ At his birth Geneva was an independent republic, and at his death it was the capital of the French department of Léman
- ^ Zumkeller, Dominique. 2001. Un père agronome: Nicolas de Saussure (1709-1791)" [An agronomist father: Nicolas de Saussure (1709-1791)]. In Sigrist, René (ed.) H.-B. de Saussure (1740-1799): un regard sur la terra [H.-B. de Saussure (1740-1799): A look at the Earth] (in French). Geneva: Bibliothèque d'Histoire des Sciences. Georg Editeur. pp. 395-408. ISBN 978-282570740-1
- ^ a b Douglas W. Freshfield, Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, éd. Slatkine.
- ^ a b Douglas W. Freshfield, Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, éd. Slatkine, p. 60.
- ^ Douglas W. Freshfield, Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, éd. Slatkine, p. 69.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Coolidge 1911.
- ^ Albert V. Carozzi & John K. Newman, "Horace-Bénédict de Saussure: Forerunner in glaciology", Mémoires de la SPHN, vol. 48, 1995
- ^ Daniela Vaj, "Saussure à la découverte de l'Italie (1772–1773)", in René Sigrist (ed.), H.-B. de Saussure (1740–1799). Un regard sur la Terre, Geneva, Georg, 2001, p. 269-299
- ^ Albert V.Carozzi, Manuscrits et publications de Horace-Bénédict de Saussure sur l'origine du basalte (1772–1797), Geneva, Editions Zoé, 2000
- ^ . Retrieved 3 July 2021.
- ^ Sella, Andrea (28 September 2010). "Classic Kit: Saussure's cyanometer". Royal Society of Chemistry, Chemistry World. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
- ^ René Sigrist, "Scientific standards in the 1780s: A controversy over hygrometers", in John Heilbron & René Sigrist (eds), Jean-André Deluc. Historian of Earth and Man, Geneva, Slatkine, 2011, p. 147-183
- ^ Albert V. Carozzi, "Forty years of thinking in front of the Alps: Saussure's (1796) unpublished theory of the Earth", Earth Sciences History, 8/2, 1989, pp. 123–140
- ^ "Connections 2" with James Burke, Episode 4 "Whodunit". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xSzT0u7G60
- ^ Marguerite Carozzi, "H.-B. de Saussure: James Hutton's obsession», Archives des Sciences, 53/2, 2000, p. 77-158
- ^ René Sigrist, Le capteur solaire de Horace-Bénédict de Saussure. Genèse d'une science empirique. Genève, Passé-Présent / Jullien, 1993. [1]
- ^ Butti, Ken (1 December 2004). "Horace de Saussure and his Hot Boxes of the 1700s". Solar Cooking Archive, Solar Cookers International (Sacramento, California). Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
- ^ "Saussure, Horace Benedict de, 17 February 1740 – 22 January 1799" (PDF). List of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1660–2007. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
- ^ "Saussure (Horace, Bénédict de)". Liste des membres depuis la création de l'Académie des sciences. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Sauss.
- ^ Candolle, A.P. de, in Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. 16:197–198
- ^ Hunt, T. Sterry (1859). "Contributions to the history of Euphotide and Saussurite". American Journal of Science. 27, second series (81): 337. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
- ISBN 9780199695652.
- ^ Schopenhauer, Arthur (1903). On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason and on the Will in Nature, English translation by Mme. Karl Hillebrand. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 82.
References
- Lives by A. P. de Candollein Décade philosophique
- DeCandolle, A.P. (1799). "XVII. Biographical memoirs of M. de Saussure". Philosophical Magazine. Series 1. 4 (13): 96–102. .
- articles by E. Naville in the Bibliothèque universelle (March, April, May 1883)
- chaps. v.-viii. of Ch. Durier's Le Mont-Blanc (Paris, various editions between 1877 and 1897).
- public domain: Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1911). "Saussure, Horace Bénédict de". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 238. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- René Sigrist, Le capteur solaire de Horace-Bénédict de Saussure. Genèse d'une science empirique. Geneva, Passé-Présent / Jullien, 1993.
- Albert V. Carozzi & Gerda Bouvier, The scientific library of Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1797): annotated catalog of an 18th-century bibliographic and historic treasure, Geneva, 1994 (Mémoires de la SPHN, t. 46).
- René Sigrist (ed.), H.-B. de Saussure (1740–1799): un regard sur la terre. Geneva, Georg, 2001.
External links
- Pictures and texts of "Les Voyages dans les Alpes" by H. B. de Saussure can be found in the database VIATIMAGES.
- Horace-Benedict de Saussure and his Hot Boxes of the 1700s
- Horace-Bénédict de Saussure works available online
- (1796–1808) Voyages dans les Alpes, précédés d'un essai sur l'histoire naturelle des environs le Genève, 4 vol. – Linda Hall Library
- (1796) "Agenda, Ou tableau général des observations et des recherches dont les résultats doivent servir de base à la théorie de la terre." Journal des mines, no. 20. Paris, an. 4 (1796); p. 1–70. – Linda Hall Library