Conté (1755-1805), an Unknown Scientist in the Enlightening Century
Year: 2002
Type: preprint
Abstract: After a difficult start in his life, he was first regarded as a good painter and portrayer, but had also interest in scientific topics : he was already involved in hot air balloons and pursued this activity in the long-run. As the french Revolution needed scientists, he was further appointed as the research center manager for aerostats in Meudon in 1794. Nevertheless, he was a good example of this new generation of people interested in all the scientific areas. If Cont… was a key-person in the aerostat field, he also worked in different scientific topics and was a great inventor : everybody knows him as he created the pencil, but he was quite successful in other scientific areas ! His global knowledge explains he was appointed as a D…monstrateur at the Conservatoire des Arts et M…tiers in 1794. Four years later, in 1798, he followed Bonaparte in Egypt and was recognized as a genious by him : during the trip, he saved the Expedition itself and created the famous engraving machine. When he was back in 1802, he used his technical experience and had a big part in the Societe d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale, which was a strucuture to enhance the industry in France. He died in 1805.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Author: Alain Quéruel
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2740833915