Étienne Jean Bouchu (23 May 1714 – 5 September 1773) was a French ironworks expert and manufacturer.

Life

Bouchu collaborated to the ''

Descriptions des Arts et Métiers ''Descriptions des Arts et Métiers, faites ou approuvées par messieurs de l'Académie Royale des Sciences'' ( French for "Descriptions of the Arts and Trades, made under the direction of the gentlemen of the Royal Academy of Sciences"), is a c ...

'' and to the ''

Encyclopédie ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...

'' by

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

for which he wrote the article ''Grosses forges''. His father was Pierre Bouchu and his mother Jeanne Goix, probably from the family of Goix Vauclair. After his marriage with Antoinette Nicole Becquet (ca.1725-1785), the daughter of an ironworks master from Arc-en-Barrois in 1744, he became ironworks master himself. He distinguished himself in natural sciences and created many friends among scholars. He made many experiments on iron and analyzed a large number of iron ore from all of Europe.

Man of letters

Bouchu was the author of all the articles of the ''

'' on the production of iron, although they were not signed. He was in relation with the philosophers of the Encyclopédie,À propos Étienne Bouchu, Diderot wrote the following lines to Grimm during his stay in Langres, in 1759 : :''There's a gentleman here, Bouchu, a man you saw a couple of times with the Baron ; gay, rebounded, ruddy. Lives in forests, digging the earth, pulling iron, picking up rubbish, filling his pockets, studying alone nature, passing for crazy like Democritus being almost like him. This man who has not forgotten you will recommend to your remembrance''. (Diderot's personal papers, kept at the departmental archives of the Haute-Marne) a member of the Académie de Dijon and correspondent of the

French Academy of 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 ...

. He also published an important book on iron in collaboration wit
Gaspard de Courtivron
''Descriptions des arts et métiers, faites ou approuvées par Messieurs de l'Académie royale des sciences de Paris'' 1771-1783.

Descendants

He died in Arc-en-Barrois September 5, 1773 and is buried in the Saint-Hubert Chapel, where the family had a right on spoiler grave. He left two son, Victor and Thomas, who would be close to Gabriel Peignot. Both were mayors of Arc-en-Barrois: Thomas Bouchu from 1789 to 1791 and from 1791 and Victor Bouchu from 1791 to l'an IV and from 25 Germinal an VIII to l'an X. He also left two daughters, Frances and Catherine (1753 -1798), who married Louis Thomassin Montbel.

References

External links

Bouchu, Etienne-Jean (1714-1773)
o
IdRef

Étienne-Jean Bouchu
on Wikisource
Genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchu, Etienne Jean French metallurgists Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772) People from Langres 1714 births 1773 deaths