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Biggest and Best Lessons Learnt from 6 French Scientists
France is known across the world for the arts, culture and food. But, that doesn’t mean the French weren’t involved in the sciences, too! The history of science in France can be traced back to the time of King Louis XIV, when he founded the Académie des Sciences, or, Science Academy in 1666.
King Louis XIV wanted a place to inspire scientists and protect their work and ideas. Since the founding of the academy, France achieved much success in the sciences. It’s not all art and philosophy here, folks!
I’ve compiled a brief list of some of the most important French scientists in history. I say brief, as there are many, many more scientists I could have mentioned! There was no shortage of scientific innovation going on in France throughout the years, but I’ve narrowed my list down to the biggest and best lessons learnt from 6 French scientists. Read on!
1. Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur in 1878 by
Paul Nadar – WikiCommons
Louis Pasteur is definitely one of the French heavyweights in science. He discovered the causes of many different diseases, and went on to discover the cures! His work has saved thousands of lives, and continues to save lives to this day.
Pasteur was born in 1822, and was actually not a very studious child. In fact, he struggled to finish high school and nearly failed his baccalauréat scientifique (general science degree). But, after, something changed in Pasteur. He decided he wanted to earn his Masters degree at the École Normale Supérieure, one of the most prestigious universities in France.
He passed the entrance exams, but earned very low scores, so he decided to try to take the exams again the following year. He studied hard, and when he retook the test he earned much higher scores and entered into the school. He went on to earn a Masters degree in Science.
Pasteur went on to work at various universities across France, but his later work with diseases truly cemented his role in the scientific community. He discovered the principles necessary for vaccination, and he also discovered pasteurization (now you know where the “pasteur” in the word comes from!).
Pasteur goes by many names in the scientific world. He is known as the father of microbiology and the father of germ theory. He also reduced mortality rates in cases of childbed fever, chicken cholera, anthrax and rabies. He was one of the first scientists to discover that diseases were spread through germs.
We can also thank Pasteur for the ways in which milk and wine are treated around the world. His pasteurization method involved heating the liquids to at least 100° Celsius in order to kill bacteria and increase shelf life, and is still used today!
Pasteur also went on to found the famous Pasteur Institute in Paris. It was originally created as a place to produce the rabies vaccine, and to study other contagious diseases. The institute brought together many impressive scientists, and allowed them to work together under the same roof. The Pasteur Institute still exists in Paris today, and there are actually 32 other institutes located around the world.
Pasteur was one of the first to teach us where disease comes from and how to treat them!
2. Marie Curie
Marie Curie in 1920 by Henri Manuel – WikiCommons
Marie Curie was the first woman to ever win a Nobel Prize, and she was also the first person to ever win 2 Nobel Prizes. As a female scientist, Curie had to fight for her place in schools, universities and the field in general.
Curie was Polish, but spent much of her adult life in France. It was here that she met her future husband, Pierre Curie, and the pair worked together until Pierre’s untimely death in 1906.
In the 19th century, X-Ray machines had already been discovered, but had yet to be deeply studied and understood. Curie worked on the study of uranium (an element used in the machines) for her doctorate degree. Through the use of a device that Pierre and his brother had invented called an electrometer, Curie made some groundbreaking discoveries. She was the first to hypothesize that radiation came from uranium itself, and not the reaction of many different elements. This paved the way towards the discovery that atoms were themselves divisible.
The Curies discovered 2 different elements through their work: polonium and radium. They were also the first to coin the phrase “radioactivity” through their research. A particularly enlightening discovery that the couple made was that if cancer cells were exposed to radium, they died more quickly that healthy cells. This was a major breakthrough in the treatment of all types of cancer. In 1903, Curie, alongside Pierre and another scientist named Henri Becquere, earned her first Nobel Prize in Physics for her research in radioactivity. She was nearly left out of the prize because of her gender, but Pierre stepped in to make sure she was included.
After Pierre’s death, Curie went on to work on her own. She founded the Curie Institute at the Sorbonne University in Paris (which still exists today), and continued her work there. In 1910, she successfully isolated radium. For her work, she was awarded her second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry. To this day, Curie is only 1 of 2 people to ever win 2 Nobel Prizes in 2 different categories.
Curie died in 1934, due to health problems likely caused by her work with radium. She was the first woman to be buried in the Panthéon in Paris.
Marie Curie taught us how radium could treat cancer. She also teaches us not to let anything, including gender, get in the way of following our passions.
3. Albert Calmette
Albert Calmette in 1933 by Kaufmann & Fabry – WikiCommons
Albert Calmette was a French scientist that would go on to discover the first antivenom for snake bites, and he also worked towards finding a cure to tuberculosis.
Calmette was born in Nice, France in 1863. He had always dreamed of being a doctor for the French Navy, and in 1881 he joined School of Naval Physicians in Brest, France. Calmette traveled around the world with the Navy, studying and working in places like Hong Kong and West Africa. He researched diseases carried by mosquitoes, like malaria and elephantiasis.
In 1890, he met Pasteur, and was tasked with opening a Pasteur Institute in Saigon, which at the time was in what was called French Indochina. Here, he studied snake venom. Upon returning to France in 1894, he discovered and developed the first ever antivenom serum to treat snake bites!
But, what really skyrocketed Calmette to fame in the science world was his work on a vaccine for tuberculosis. In the late 19th century, tuberculosis was the major cause of death across the world. Calmette worked closely with another scientist named Camille Guérin to create a vaccine which they dubbed Bacillum Calmette-Guérin, or BCG.
In 1921, the pair successfully vaccinated 2 newborns in the Charité hospital in Paris. They really thought they were on to something, when in 1930 tragedy struck. 72 children that had been vaccinated with a faulty vaccine (later recognized as being contaminated), developed tuberculosis.
Although this was a major setback that Calmette really took to heart, it helped to develop better techniques for keeping the vaccine safe and prevent contamination. Mass vaccination was reinstated in 1932 after these developments.
Calmette taught the world how to treat snakebites and treat tuberculosis. He also teaches us to never give up, even if we are faced with setbacks.
4. Antoine-Augustin Parmentier
Portrait of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier by François Dumont – WikiCommons
I had to include Antoine-Augustin Parmentier on my list. I love potatoes (honestly…who doesn’t?!), and we have Parmentier to thank! But, that’s not all. Parmentier was a French nutritionist that changed the way the French eat. He also put in place the first mandatory smallpox vaccine campaign under the rule of Napoleon.
Parmentier was born in 1737. He was a pharmacist in the army, and was serving in the Seven Years War when he was captured and imprisoned by the Prussian army. As punishment, he was fed potatoes. At the time, potatoes were considered fit only for animals: people did not eat this stuff. In the late 18th century, it was actually widely believed that potatoes caused leprosy, and it was illegal to grow them in France.
When Parmentier returned to France in 1763, he began to study the positive effects of potatoes in humans. He figured, if he was able to survive off of this stuff, could there be actual benefits to eating them? In 1772, he presented his idea that potatoes could be used to treat the disease dysentery. His proposal was a huge success, and in 1772, the Paris Faculty of Medicine declared potatoes edible.
Parmentier went on to work towards bringing the potato to the masses. He threw elaborate dinner parties featuring dishes prepared using potatoes, and guests included Benjamin Franklin! He also went so far as to gift the king and the queen with bouquets of potato blossoms. The potato was eventually accepted by the general public, and many different potato-centric dishes are named for the scientist, including most famously, hachis Parmentier, which is similar to shepherd’s pie!
Additionally, Parmentier discovered that sugar could be extracted from sugar beets, and he studied refrigeration and other methods of conserving food products.
Parmentier taught us that the potato is nothing to be afraid of, and for that, I am so grateful! He also teaches us that innovation can come out of the most unlikely places, like a Prussian prison!
5. Claudine Picardet
Portrait of 6 prominent scientists of the 18th century. Claudine Picardet is the second from the left, and is pictured with a book, likely to visualize that she worked as a translator by Anonymous – WikiCommons
Claudine Picardet was a French scientific translator, chemist, meteorologist and mineralogist. She was born in 1735, and married her first husband, Claude Picardet in 1755. Claude was a barrister and was a member of many different scientific associations in Dijon, France. This allowed Picardet to enter into this academic world, and she began to attend lectures at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Dijon.
Picardet began her work in science through translating many important works from their original languages into French. All in all, she translated 3 books and thousands of pages of scientific works. Picardet’s second husband, Guyton de Morveau led a group of translators at the Dijon Academy, which included Picardet. Thanks to this group, many important scientific papers were now readily available in France.
Alongside Morveau, Picardet studied mineralogy and chemistry at the Dijon Academy. She participated in experiments and studies to make sure that the work they were doing matched with the translations she had done. She became well known in her circle for her intelligence and skill in the lab, as well.
At a time when women were not welcome into the world of science, Picardet teaches us that anything is possible! She also solidified Dijon as an epicenter of the sciences in the 18th century.
6. Pierre-Simon Laplace
Portrait of Pierre-Simon de Laplace by James Posselwhite – WikiCommons
French scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace is sometimes referred to as the “Issac Newton of France,” so you know I had to include him on my list! Laplace was born in 1749, and was Napoleon’s official examiner when the emperor attended the École Militaire. He was also a mathematician, engineer, astronomer and physicist, to name just a few of his skills.
Laplace contributed a lot of work to the astronomy field, and spent a big part of his life studying the solar system. He was also one of the first scientists to theorize the existence of black holes.
In the 17th century, an Englishman named Sir Isaac Newton published his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, in which he described the motion of the planets, going off of his laws of motion. But, because he was using geometry, he was unable to find a mathematical solution to the effects of interactions between planets. He often cited “divine intervention” as reasoning for his theories. Laplace spent most of his career attempting to debunk this theory of divine intervention.
Laplace was a skilled mathematician above all, and was widely recognized for his genius. He worked on various theories about space during his life time. Although Newton was considered known as the expert in the field, Laplace didn’t let that prevent him from questioning his theories.
Laplace teaches us to dig deeper no matter what.
Conclusion
I hope after reading this article you’ve learned more about the biggest and best in science in France! If you’re looking for inspiration…you’ve found in in the 6 individuals I’ve mentioned above.
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