Édouard Constant Biot (; July 2, 1803 – March 12, 1850) was a French

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

and

Sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...

. As an engineer, he participated in the construction of the second line of French railway between

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and St Etienne, and as a Sinologist, published a large body of work, the result of a "knowledge rarely combined."

Life

Son of the

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Jean-Baptiste Biot Jean-Baptiste Biot (; ; 21 April 1774 – 3 February 1862) was a French people, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who co-discovered the Biot–Savart law of magnetostatics with Félix Savart, established the reality of meteorites, ma ...

, he studied

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and mathematics as a free student at the

Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on Rue Saint-Jacques (Paris), rue Saint-Jacques in central Par ...

in Paris. Admitted in 1822 to the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

, he chose not to enter and pursue his studies alone. In 1825 and 1826, he accompanied his father as an assistant on scientific expeditions to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Illyria In classical and late antiquity, Illyria (; , ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; , ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyrians. The Ancient Gree ...

and Spain. Back in France, with desire to ensure his independence, he began a career in the emerging railway industry. In 1827, after a preparatory trip to England, he joined forces with

Marc Seguin Marc Seguin (20 April 1786 – 24 February 1875) was a French engineer, inventor of the wire-Wire rope, cable suspension bridge and the multi-tubular steam-engine firetube boiler, boiler. Early life Seguin was born in Annonay, Ardèche to Ma ...

in the construction of the Lyon–Saint-Etienne railway, whose concession is granted to "MM. Seguin brothers, Édouard Biot and Company. "He worked as an engineer for nearly seven years, using his father's calculations for the levelling of the line. When this project was completed in 1833, he decided to enjoy the financial independence he had gained to study the Chinese language and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. He attended courses at the school of Stanislas Julien of the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

and soon began a new career. An extensive series of papers, devoted to astronomy, mathematics, geography, history, social life and administration of China, led to his being elected a Fellow of the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

in 1847, having already joined the Asiatic Societies of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and several other learned societies. His astronomical translations were later used in particular in associating the

Crab Nebula The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus (constellation), Taurus. The common name comes from a drawing that somewhat resembled a crab with arm ...

with a supernova observed by the Chinese in 1054. Married in 1843, he lost his wife in 1846. Unable to overcome his grief, he fell ill and died in Paris four years later at the age of 46.

Works

Biot translated

Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

's ''On the Economy of Machinery and Manufacture'' into French, and was the author of one of the earliest works on the railways, the ''Manuel du constructeur des chemins de fer'' (''Manual of Railway Construction''), published in 1834. Besides his memoirs on Chinese civilization, most of which were published in the ''

Journal Asiatique The ''Journal asiatique'' (; full earlier title ''Journal Asiatique ou Recueil de Mémoires, d'Extraits et de Notices relatifs à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie, aux Langues et à la Littérature des Peuples Orientaux'') is a biannual peer-reviewed ...

'', he was also the author of a ''Dictionnaire Géographique de l'Empire Chinois'' (''Geographical Dictionary of the Chinese Empire'') and the ''Histoire de l'Instruction publique en Chine'' (''History of Public Education in China''), as well as the translation into French of the ''Zhou Li'' or ''

The Rites of Zhou The ''Rites of Zhou'' (), originally known as "Officers of Zhou" (), is a Chinese work on bureaucracy and organizational theory. It was renamed by Liu Xin to differentiate it from a chapter in the '' Book of History'' by the same name. To rep ...

'', from the series of books forming the ''

Classic of Rites The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The '' ...

''. This presents a tableau of an idealized political and administrative organization of China in the eleventh century BC. After his death, the publication was completed under the care of his father. Biot's works are still referred to and his translations have not been superseded.

Publications

Science and technology

*''Traité sur l'économie des machines et des manufactures par Charles Babbage, traduit de l'anglais sur la troisième édition par Éd. Biot'' (1833) *''Manuel du constructeur des chemins de fer, ou Essai sur les principes généraux de l'art de construire les chemins de fer'' (1834)

History

*''De l'Abolition de l'esclavage ancien en Occident'' (1840) *''Mémoire sur la condition de la classe servile au Mexique, avant la conquête des Espagnols'' (1840)

Sinology

Books

*''Dictionnaire des noms anciens et modernes des villes et arrondissements de premier, deuxième et troisième ordre compris dans l'Empire chinois'' (1842) *''Essai sur l'histoire de l'instruction publique en Chine et de la corporation des lettrés'' (2 volumes, 1845-1847) *''Le Tcheou-li ou Rites des Tcheou, traduit pour la première fois du chinois par feu Édouard Biot'' (2 volumes, 1851). Édité par Jean-Baptiste Biot. Réédition : Ch'eng Wen Publishing Co., Taipei, 1975

Papers

*Notice sur quelques procédés industriels connus en Chine au XVIe siècle (1835

*Mémoire sur la population de la Chine et ses variations, depuis l'an 2400 avant J.-C. jusqu'au XVIIe siècle de notre ère (1836

*Mémoire sur la condition des esclaves et des serviteurs gagés en Chine (1837

*Mémoire sur le système monétaire des Chinois (1838

*Mémoire sur les recensements des terres, consignés dans l'Histoire chinoise (1938

*Mémoire sur la condition de la propriété territoriale en Chine, depuis les temps anciens (1838

*Note sur la connaissance que les Chinois ont eue de la valeur de position des chiffres (1839

*Table générale d'un ouvrage chinois intitulé ''Souan-fa-tong-tsong'', ou ''Traité complet de l'art de compter'' (1839

*Mémoire sur divers minéraux chinois, appartenant à la collection du Jardin du roi (1839

*Mémoire sur les montagnes et cavernes de la Chine (1840

*Recherches sur la hauteur de quelques points remarquables du territoire chinois (1840

*Recherches sur la température ancienne de la Chine. (1840

*''Tchou-chou-ki-nien'' (1841

*Traduction et explication du ''Tchéou-peï'' (1841

*Catalogue général des tremblements de terre en Chine (1841) *Mémoire sur le chapitre ''Yu-koung'' du ''Chou-king'' et sur la géographie de la Chine ancienne (1842

*Mémoire sur les déplacements du cours inférieur du fleuve Jaune (1843

*Recherches sur les mœurs anciennes des Chinois, d'après le ''Chi-king'' (1843

*Observations anciennes de la planète Mercure, extraites de la Collection des vingt-quatre historiens de la Chine (1843) *Note sur la direction de l'aiguille aimentée en Chine, et sur les aurores boréales observées dans ce pays (1842) *Mémoire sur l'extension progressive des côtes orientales de la Chine (1844

*Mémoire sur la Constitution politique de la Chine au XIIe siecle avant notre ère (1844) *Études sur les anciens temps de l'Histoire chinoise (1845

*Catalogue de tous les météores observés en Chine, avec la date du jour de l'apparition et l'identification des constellations traversées (1846) *Recherches faites dans la grande collection des historiens de la Chine, sur les anciennes apparitions de la comète de Halley (1846) *Catalogue des comètes observées en Chine, depuis l'an 1230 jusqu'à l'an 1640 de notre ère (1846) *Catalogue des étoiles extraordinaires observées en Chine, depuis les temps anciens jusqu'à l'an 1200 de notre ère (1846) *Mémoire sur les monuments analogues aux pierres druidiques qu'on rencontre dans l'Asie orientale, et en particulier à la Chine (1848) *Mémoires sur les colonies militaires et agricoles des Chinois (1850)

English translations

The cities and towns of China, a geographical dictionary [by E.C. Biot, revised and tr.] by G.M.H. Playfair (1879)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biot, Edouard French sinologists 19th-century French engineers Chinese–French translators 1803 births 1850 deaths Engineers from Paris Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni Members of the Société Asiatique Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 19th-century French translators Writers from Paris