François Pelletier was a French illusionist, famed in his time for his use of

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

s as an entertainment basis for his act. His reputation was such that he was invited to perform at the court of

Maria Theresa of Austria Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' ( ...

Schönbrunn Palace Schönbrunn Palace (german: Schloss Schönbrunn ; Central Bavarian: ''Schloss Scheenbrunn'') was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning “beautiful spring”) has its root ...

in 1769. His act inspired the construction of the purported

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

-playing

automaton An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...

The Turk, following observation of the performance by the Hungarian

Wolfgang von Kempelen Johann Wolfgang Ritter von Kempelen de Pázmánd ( hu, Kempelen Farkas; 23 January 1734 – 26 March 1804) was a Hungarian author and inventor, known for his chess-playing "automaton" hoax The Turk and for his speaking machine. Personal lif ...

References

''Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique'', January 1770, pp. 444-5.

"Optique" in ''Nouvelles de la république des lettres et des arts'', 31 July 1782, pp. 231-2.

François Pelletier, ''Hommage aux amateurs des arts, ou Mémoire contenant un détail abrégé d'inventions utiles et agréables dans la mécanique, l'optique'', Saint-Germain-en-Laye chez l'auteur, 1782.

''Mémoires secrets'', 12 juin 1783.

"Course" in ''Journal de Paris'', 23 December 1785, p. 1477.
* Luc-Vincent Thiéry, ''Guide des amateurs et des étrangers voyageurs à Paris'', 1787, p. 495.
Gallica BNF

Google Books
* Tom Standage, ''The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine''. Walker and Company,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, 2002. * Gerald M. Levitt, ''The Turk, Chess Automaton''. McFarland and Company Inc. Publishers,

Jefferson, North Carolina Jefferson is a town in and the county seat of Ashe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,611 at the 2010 census. History The North Carolina General Assembly created a special commission in 1799 to found a county seat for A ...

, 2000. French magicians Year of birth missing Year of death missing 18th-century French people {{magic-stub