Noël-Antoine Pluche (13 November 1688 – 19 November 1761), known as the abbé Pluche, was a French priest. He is now known for his Spectacle de la nature, a most popular work of natural history.
Noël-Antoine Pluche | |
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| Born | 13 November 1688  Reims, Kingdom of France |
| Died | 19 November 1761 (aged 73) La Varenne-Saint-Maur, Kingdom of France |
Biography
editPluche, son of a baker, was born in Reims, in a street now named after him. He became a teacher of rhetoric. The Bishop of Laon made him head of the town's college, a post he accepted to escape judicial consequences of opposing the papal bull Unigenitus (1713)
He withdrew in 1749 to La Varenne-Saint-Maur, near Paris, where he died.
His Spectacle de la nature, ou Entretiens sur les particularités de l'Histoire naturelle qui ont paru les plus propres à rendre les jeunes gens curieux et à leur former l'esprit was published in nine volumes 1732–1742, and widely translated all over Europe. Although it influenced many to become naturalists, it was a work of popularization, not of science.
Works
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- Histoire du ciel considéré selon les idées des poètes, des philosophes et de Moïse. Den Haag: Jean Neaulme. 1739.
- Spectacle de la nature. Paris: Jacques Estienne, Veuve et Fils & Jean Desaint. 1740.
- Lo spettacolo della natura. Venice: Giovanni Battista Pasquali. 1740.
- Istoria del cielo. Venice: Giovanni Battista Pasquali. 1747.
- De linguarum artificio et doctrina. Paris: La Veuve Estienne & Fils. 1751.
- La mécanique des langues, et l'art de les enseigner. Paris: La Veuve Estienne & Fils. 1751.
- Concorde de la géographie des différens âges. Paris: Les Freres Estienne. 1754.
- Lettre sur la Sainte Ampoule, et sur le sacre de nos rois, à Reims. Paris: Les Freres Estienne. 1775.
Sources
edit- Biographical note at Biographies rémoises.