Pierre Borel ( la, Petrus Borellius; c. 1620 – 1671) was a French savant: a

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

(and reputed

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim ...

), physician, and botanist. Borel was born in

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect of Occitan) is the sole subprefecture of the Tarn department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. It lies in the former province of Languedoc, although not in the former region of Lan ...

. He became a doctor of medicine at the

University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the wor ...

in 1640. In 1654 he became physician to the King of France,

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

. In 1663 he married Esther de Bonnafous. In 1674 he became a member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

. He died in

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. He concerned himself with an eclectic range of subjects:

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...

, ancient history, philology and bibliography. His biographers have tended to deplore his spreading of himself over so many areas. In '' The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'', H. P. Lovecraft (mis)represents Borellus (sic) as a potent

necromancer Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events ...

. In fact, the novels opens with a quote from Borellus.

Works

* ''Les antiquités de Castres'', 1649 * ''Bibliotheca chimica'', 1654 * ''Trésor de recherches et d'antiquités gauloises et françaises'', 1655 * ''Historiarium et observationum medico-physicarum centuria IV'', 1653, 1656 * ''De vero telescopii inventore'', 1655. * ''Vitae Renati Cartesii, summi philosophi compendium'', 1656. * ''Discours nouveau prouvant la pluralité des mondes'', 1657.

Notes

References

*Marie-Rose Carré, ''A Man between Two Worlds: Pierre Borel and His Discours nouveau prouvant la pluralité des mondes of 1657'', Isis, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Sep., 1974), pp. 322–335 *Pierre Chabbert, ''Pierre Borel (1620 ?-1671)'', Revue d’histoire des sciences 21 (1968), 303-43.

External links

* Didier Foucault
''Pierre Borel''
__NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Borel, Pierre 1620 births 1689 deaths People from Castres French archaeologists French naturalists 17th-century French chemists 17th-century antiquarians