Denis Dodart was a French

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. He was born in 1634 in

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 died on November 5, 1707, in the same city.

Biography

Childhood and humanist education

Denis Dodart was born in 1634 in a Parisian middle class family that belonged to the ''

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

''. He was a son of Jean Dodart,

notary public A notary public ( notary or public notary; notaries public) of the common law is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with general financial transactions, estates, deeds, powers- ...

with a passion for

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 ...

, and Marie Dubois, daughter of a lawyer at the

Parlement of Paris The ''Parlement'' of Paris () was the oldest ''parlement'' in the Kingdom of France, formed in the 14th century. Parlements were judicial, rather than legislative, bodies and were composed of magistrates. Though not representative bodies in the p ...

. He was interested in art and science since young age. He was taught

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

, and

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

. Fontenelle mentioned in his ''Éloge of Monsieur Dodart'' the library of the Dodart family. He studied at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

and gained his

Doctorate of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

on 13 October 1660. Denis Dodart was noticed for his erudition, his good eloquency, being open minded. He is described by

Guy Patin Guy (or Guido) Patin (1601 in Hodenc-en-Bray, Oise – 30 August 1672 in Paris) was a French medical doctor and man of letters. Patin was doyen (or dean) of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris (1650–1652) and professor in the Collège de Fra ...

, dean of the University in a private letter : ''"Ce jourd'hui ic5 Juillet (1660) nous avons fait la Licence de nos vieux Bacheliers, ils sont 7 en nombre, dont celui qui est le plus fécond, nommé Dodart, âgé de 25 ans, est un des plus sage & des plus fçavans ichommes homme de ce Siècle Ce jeune homme est un prodige de sagesse 6 de science monstrum sin vitio, comme disait Adr. Turnebus de Josepho Scaligero."'' He adds in another letter ''"Notre Licentié icqui est si fçavant, s'appelle Dodart. il est le fils d'un Bourgeois de Paris, fort honnête homme. C'est un grand garçon, fort sage, fort modeste, qui sait Hipocrate, Galien, Aristote,

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

n, Sénèque, & Fernel par coeur. C'est un garçon incomparable, qui n'a pas 26 ans, car la Faculté lui fit grace au premier Examen de quelaues mois qui lui manquait pour son âge, sur la bonne opinion qu'on avait de lui dés auparavant."'' In 1666 he gained the Doctor of Pharmacy title.

Physician of Conti family and Port-Royal

He was elected to the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of 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 method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

in 1673. In

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

he is notable for his early studies of plant respiration and growth. He collaborated with the French engraver Nicolas Robert in several illustrated works includin
Estampes de Plantes
an
Mémoires pour servir á l'Histoire des Plantes
His father Jean Dodart was a Parisian notary and his mother Marie Dubois was the daughter of a lawyer. Suspicion that his parents, like many from the legal professions, had been supporters of the

Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in the Kingdom of France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The government of the young King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition ...

uprising nearly derailed his election to the Academy of Sciences. Though most of his writings are about botany and medicine, he was also interested in music. He intended to write a history of music but did not complete it. His main extant contribution was the essay about the physical characteristics and qualities of the

human voice The human voice consists of sound Voice production, made by a human being using the vocal tract, including Speech, talking, singing, Laughter, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically ...

''Mémoire sur les causes de la voix de l'homme, et de ses différens tons'', published in the ''Mémoires de l'Académie royale des sciences'' (1700; pp. 244–93) and published separately in 1703. He also added ''suppléments'' in the ''Mémoires'' for 1706 (pp. 136–48, 388–410) and 1707 (pp. 66–81).

Eponymy

The

nettle Nettle refers to plants with stinging hairs, particularly those of the genus '' Urtica''. It can also refer to plants which resemble ''Urtica'' species in appearance but do not have stinging hairs. Plants called "nettle" include: * ball nettle ...

species '' Urtica dodartii'' was named after him by Linnaeus but this is now considered a variety of '' Urtica pilulifera'', the Roman nettle (''U. pilulifera'' L. var. ''dodartii'' (L.) Aschers.).

Major works

References

External links

* Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle
''Éloge de M. Dodart'' (1707)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodart, Denis Botanists with author abbreviations French naturalists Members of the French Academy of Sciences 1634 births 1707 deaths