Pierre Perrault (scientist)
Pierre Perrault (c. 1608, in
Life
Perrault grew up in a bourgeois family, had at least seven siblings, and probably lived all his life in Paris. Little is known about his life, despite the fame of some of his younger brothers. These include
Perrault was trained as a lawyer, and in 1654 purchased the position of
After the bankruptcy Perrault became an amateur scientist and focused his attention on the origin of
On the Origin of Springs
In the millennia before Perrault published his book, most
Perrault devoted the first part of his book, On the Origin of Springs, to analyzing the ideas of his predecessors and what he called the "Common Opinion", rejecting most of it. He estimated the flow in the
With a series of experiments, Perrault showed that rain does not penetrate the soil beyond about 2 feet (0.61 m). Thus, most of the rain that falls does not go into springs. Perrault developed the theory of the
Notes
References
- ISBN 978-0-521-82479-8.
- Nace, Raymond L. (1974). "Pierre Perrault: The man and his contribution to modern hydrology". .
- Perrault, Pierre (1966). On the origin of springs. Translation of "De l’origine des fontaines” (1674). ASIN B0026MBIHE.