Jean Ernest Reynaud (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ ɛʁnɛst ʁɛno]; February 14, 1806–July 28, 1863) was a French mining engineer and socialist philosopher.

Portrait of Reynaud, engraving after a portrait by Madame Reynaud
Reynaud's grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, with sculpture by Henri Chapu

He was a member of the Saint-Simonian community. He was a co-founder of the Encyclopédie nouvelle.

Life

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He was born in Lyon on 4 February 1806. He graduated from the Polytechnic School in Lyon in 1827 and joined the School of Mines. In May 1829 he began a four month study tour of Germany including the Harz Mountains, Black Forest, Saxony, Hanover, Oldenbourg and Westphalia. He then spent a further two months studying mines in Belgium and the Netherlands. He graduated from the mining school in 1830.[1]

He was briefly imprisoned in the uprising of 1830. In 1854 he invented a new religious philosophy regarding the transmigration of souls which he saw as compatible both with traditional Christian views and modern ideas regarding reincarnation.[2]

He died in Paris on 28 June 1863 and was buried there in Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

Publications

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  • Minéralogie des Gens du Monde (1836)
  • Histoire Élémentaire des Minéraux Usuels (1842)
  • Terre et Ciel (1854)

References

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  1. ^ "Reynaud Jean Ernest".
  2. ^ "Reynaud Jean Ernest".
  • David Albert Griffiths, Jean Reynaud, encyclopédiste de l’époque romantique, d’après sa correspondance inédite, Paris : M. Rivière, 1965.
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