Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury

Louis-Étienne François Héricart-Ferrand, vicomte de Thury, (

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, 3 June 1776 –

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 15 January 1854) was a French politician and man of science. He was a

mining engineer Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

who produced more than 350 scholarly articles; was a member of numerous societies and professional associations. He was heir to an estate of great horticultural richness with the equivalent of a private arboretum. He was a founding member of the

National Horticultural Society of France The National Horticultural Society of France (French: ''Société nationale dhorticulture de France'', or SNHF) is a horticultural society founded in 1827 by Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury. Headquartered in Paris, it comprises specialized de ...

. His family were of the ''

noblesse de robe The concept of the Scottish Noblesse, a class of nobles of either peerage or non-peerage rank, was prominently advocated for by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney during his tenure as an officer of arms. Innes of Learney believed that Scottish armiger ...

'', his father a master councillor at the ''

Cour des Comptes The ''Cour des Comptes'' ("Court of Accounts") is France's supreme audit institution, under French law an administrative court. As such, it is independent from the legislative and executive branches of the French Government. However, the 1946 and ...

''. The younger Héricart showed an aptitude for science and was enrolled in the ''

École des Mines École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scal ...

'' 13 April 1795. His first commissions sent him on several trips to the south of France. In 1809 he was assigned the position of general inspector of quarries, a position he held, under changes of government, until 1830. Following the work of Charles Axel Guillaumot, he undertook the work researching and consolidating former Paris' subterranean mines. In 1814 he was received a member of the Société royale et centrale d'agriculture, first of a long list of scientific societies in which he was a member or correspondent. He was named director of the ''Bâtiments civils'' of Paris in 1823, and in that capacity oversaw the construction of the

Paris Bourse Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined market ...

, the completion of the Arc de Triomphe and the transformation of the Hôtel de Cluny into a museum. He was elected a member of the ''

Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at th ...

'' in 1824. He was listed among the four hundred founding members of the Société d'horticulture de Paris, 11 June 1827. He was returned as ''député'' on three elections, in 1815, 1820 and 1824, then was defeated in the election of 1827. He was a member of the court circle of

Charles X Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Lou ...

and an adherent of the arch-conservative minister Villèle. He was a prime mover of the purchase of the

Palais Bourbon The Palais Bourbon () is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the '' Rive Gauche'' of the Seine, across from the Place de la Con ...

, seat of the

Assemblée Nationale The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are know ...

, by the French government in 1827. In the last years of his life he was often asked to serve on juries judging expositions. He resigned the presidency of the Société d'horticulture in 1851. That same year he accompanied his son to Italy, where he died in Rome, 1854. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hericart De Thury, Louis-Etienne French politicians 1776 births 1854 deaths Members of the French Academy of Sciences Politicians from Paris Scientists from Paris French mining engineers