Mathieu Tillet

Mathieu Tillet (born November 10, 1714 in Bordeaux , † December 13, 1791 ibid) was a French botanist, agronomist, administrator and metallurgist.

Tillet was the son of a goldsmith and learned to work with metals from him. In 1740 he became director of the Troyes Mint , which he remained until 1756 when he moved to Paris. In 1750 he published a book on alloys, but also dealt with other scientific questions, especially in agriculture. In 1755 he described in his dissertation on the cause qui corrompt et noircit les grains de blé dans les épis; et sur les moyens de prévenir ces accidents the treatment of wheat seeds with lime and salt against the mushrooms Tilletia tritici and Tilletia laevis later named after him by Charles and Louis Tulasne. For this he received a prize from the Bordeaux Academy in 1755. In 1760/61 he examined insects harmful to grain in Angoumois with Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau , about which they published in 1762.

In 1758 he became a member of the Académie des Sciences in the botany section. In 1788 he became its treasurer after the death of his friend Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon . In 1766 he was commissioned by the academy to make copies of the official length rule in France ( Toise ). In 1767 he became inspector general of the mints, which he remained until 1774. In 1784 he took over the management of the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière . During his time as director, Jeanne de Saint-Rémy was imprisoned there as part of the collar affair , but she was able to escape.

In 1773 he became a Knight of the Order of Saint-Michel. In 1791 he was a member of the metric commission of the Academie des Sciences.

Web links

• French biography, pdf