Mathurin-Jacques Brisson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mathurin-Jacques Brisson

Mathurin-Jacques Brisson (born April 30, 1723 in Fontenay-le-Comte , † June 23, 1806 in Croissy-sur-Seine near Paris ) was a French zoologist and natural philosopher .

Live and act

Brisson dealt with natural history from an early age and brought out some works, e.g. B. Regnum animale (1756-1762) and Ornithologia (1760). After the death of René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur , whose assistant he was, he gave up natural history and in 1757 became professor of experimental physics at the Collège Royal de Navarre . His most important work in this field was Pesanteur spécifique des corps (1787), and he published other works on physical subjects that were very important at the time. As Maître de Physique & d'Histoire Naturelle des Enfans de France, Brisson was a member of the Académie royale de sciences .

At the beginning of 1806 he suffered a severe stroke , as a result of which he almost completely lost his language skills.

Ornithology

In 1760 Brisson wrote a six-volume work called Ornithologia . In addition to the nine-volume work by Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (volumes 16–24) on the birds Histoire naturelle des oiseaux (1770–1785), his ornithology is the beginning of scientific ornithology . The ornithologia is a cataloging of, among other things, the extensive collection of René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur . Brisson's most important intention was a classification of birds, for this he used a natural system and rejected the binary system of Carl von Linné . On 261 copper plates , around 500 pictures of birds in natural surroundings by François-Nicolas Martinet (approx. 1760–1800) are shown. The illustrator later also became the artistic director of the Buffon edition.

  • Frontispice of ornithology (1760)

  • Ornithological tablet depicting a falcon (engraving by François-Nicolas Martinet)

Works

  • Regnum animale in classes IX distributum sive Synopsis methodica. Haak, Paris, Leiden 1756–1762.
  • Ornithologia sive Synopsis methodica sistens avium divisionem in ordines, sectiones, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates. Bauche, Paris, Leiden 1760–1763.
  • Supplementum Ornithologiæ sive Citationes, descriptionesque antea omissæ & species de novo adjectæ, ad suaquaque genera redactæ. Paris 1760.
  • Lettres de deux Espagnols sur les manufactures. Vergera 1769.
  • Dictionnaire raisonné de physique. Thou, Paris 1781-1800.
  • Observations on the new decouvertes aërostatiques. Lamy, Paris 1784.
  • Pesanteur spécifique des corps. Ouvrage utile à Histoire Naturelle, à la Physique, aux Arts & au Commerce. l'imprimerie royale, Paris 1787.
  • Traité élémentaire ou Principes de physique. Moutard & Bossange, Paris 1789–1803.
  • Trattato elementare ovvero Principi di fisica. Grazioli, Florence 1791.
  • The specific weights of the body. Leipzig 1795.
  • Suplemento al Diccionario universal de física. Cano, Madrid 1796-1802.
  • Principes élémentaires de l'histoire naturelle et chymique des substances minérales. Paris 1797.
  • The beginnings of natural history and the chemistry of minerals. Mainz 1799.
  • Instruction on the new poids et mesures. Paris 1799.
  • Elémens ou Principes physico-chymiques. Bossange, Paris 1800.
  • Elements of the natural history and chemical analysis of mineral substances. Ritchie, Walker, Vernor & Hood, London 1800.
  • Tratado elemental ó principios de física. Madrid 1803-1804.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Introduction to François Nicolas Martinet: Ornithology Smithsonian Libraries (English)
personal data
SURNAME Brisson, Mathurin-Jacques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French zoologist and natural philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1723
PLACE OF BIRTH Fontenay-le-Comte
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 1806
Place of death Croissy-sur-Seine near Paris