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Condorcet, Seignette et l’Académie de La Rochelle
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Bycroft, Michael and Crépel, Pierre (2019) Condorcet, Seignette et l’Académie de La Rochelle. In: Rieucau, Nicolas and Launay, Française and Candaux, Jean-Daniel, (eds.) Les relations scientifiques de Condorcet avec les provinces françaises : Correspondance et documents inédits 1772-1791. Paris: Centre International d’étude du XVIIIème siècle, pp. 235-264. ISBN 9782845591325
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Abstract
Condorcet had two main epistolary exchanges with Seignette, the secretary of the Academy of La Rochelle. The first concerned the 1777 visit of the Emperor Joseph II, who was imperfectly disguised as “the Count of Falckenstein.” The Emperor was touring France in the hope of seeing all that was fine and interesting in each town he visited. At La Rochelle he received an electric shock from a torpedo fish. A celebrated series of experiments had been made on this animal in 1772 by the Englishman Walsh, assisted by members of the local academy. It was Condorcet who served as intermediary, informing Seignette of the emperor’s visit. The Rochelais savant replied by explaining to the naïve Parisians the practical difficulties of such an experiment, an experiment that nevertheless took place and that Seignette described in detail in a letter to Condorcet. This correspondence also allows us to grasp the state of research on electricity at the time. The second exchange between Condorcet and Seignette concerned the tides. In the Mémoires de l’Académie royale des sciences for 1772 (published in 1775), Lalande summarised the theory of the tides and the experiments that were needed to untangle this complex phenomenon. Soon afterwards the Academy settled on a research programme on the topic, and as part of this programme Condorcet sent a letter (written by Lalande) with a request for observations. Once again, Seignette showed the geometers and astronomers at the Paris Academy that even in 1778 they had not grasped the practicalities of making the asked-for observations. We develop these two episodes by placing them in the scientific and political context of the post-1776 period and in the context of Condorcet’s engagement in the organisation of scientific life around France. The paper is based for the most part on a study of manuscript 783 housed at the Médiathèque in the town of La Rochelle.
| Item Type: | Book Item | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | D History General and Old World > DC France | ||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > History | ||||
| Publisher: | Centre International d’étude du XVIIIème siècle | ||||
| Place of Publication: | Paris | ||||
| ISBN: | 9782845591325 | ||||
| Book Title: | Les relations scientifiques de Condorcet avec les provinces françaises : Correspondance et documents inédits 1772-1791 | ||||
| Editor: | Rieucau, Nicolas and Launay, Française and Candaux, Jean-Daniel | ||||
| Official Date: | 4 March 2019 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Number of Pages: | 465 | ||||
| Page Range: | pp. 235-264 | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 25 March 2019 | ||||
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