Pons-Joseph Bernard

Pons-Joseph Bernard (born July 16, 1748 in Provence , † July 29, 1816 ) was a French naturalist and geologist.

Life

Bernard was born in a village in Provence on the road between Les Arcs and Draguignan . From 1763 Bernard visited the colleague of the Oratorians and was then a teacher of mathematics and natural sciences in Toulon, Marseille and Lyon. To devote himself more to research, he left the Oratorians in 1773. When the observatory in Marseille was taken over by the Royal Navy after the expulsion of the Jesuits, its new director Saint-Jacques de Silvabelle was looking for an assistant and in 1778 hired Bernard to carry out the astronomical observations and work on geodesy. He also worked from 1790 to 1793 and from 1802 as an engineer for the Départment Var and later for the Départment Alpes-Maritimes.

From 1773 he published price papers for the academy in Marseille (which was founded in 1726, but had a scientific class only since 1766), including in botany (such as the olive tree), agriculture (such as fertilizer), hydrography (rivers such as the Rhone, lakes) and mineralogy and geology. He also took part in competitions at the academies in Aix, Lyon and Paris.

As a naturalist in the geosciences, he was a student of Jean-Étienne Guettard , with whom he had contact from 1775, and studied the minerals and geology of Provence. His Natural History of Provence (Histoire de Provence, Volume 1) appeared in 1777 under the name and as part of the history of Provence by Jean-Pierre Papon . His hydraulic book was also translated into German.

From 1786 he was a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences .

Fonts

Contribution to Papon: Histoire de Provence, 1777
Nouveaux Principes d'hydraulique appliqués à tous les objets d'utilité et particulièrement aux rivières, Paris, 1787
Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire naturelle de la Provence, 3 volumes 1787

Web links

Pons-Joseph Bernard (1748-1816), un naturaliste provençal du siècle des Lumières, Travaux du comité francais d´histoire de la géologie (COFRHIGEO), 2002, website of the Annales des Mines

Individual evidence

↑ The relevant contents correspond to a manuscript by Bernard in the municipal library of Draguignan.
^ List of members since 1666: Letter B. Académie des sciences, accessed on September 17, 2019 (French).

personal data
SURNAME	Bernard, Pons-Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH	July 16, 1748
PLACE OF BIRTH	Provence
DATE OF DEATH	July 29, 1816

[1] The relevant contents correspond to a manuscript by Bernard in the municipal library of Draguignan.

[2] List of members since 1666: Letter B. Académie des sciences, accessed on September 17, 2019 (French).