Gabriel Jars (26 January 1732 – 20 August 1769) sometimes confusingly referred to as Antoine-Gabriel Jars but more correctly as Gabriel Jars the younger was a French mining and metallurgical specialist who along with his brother Gabriel Jars the elder (1729-1808) contributed to knowledge on mining with his three volume work ''Voyages métallurgiques'' published posthumously from 1774 to 1781 by his brother Gabriel Jars the elder. The introduction of coke to smelting processes in France was made through his studies of techniques used in England.
Jars was born in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
in a mining family, son of Gabriel Jars (d. 1770) and Jeanne-Marie Valioud. The family was in the copper business and quarried
pyrite
The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Iron, FeSulfur, S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral.
Pyrite's metallic Luster (mineralogy), lust ...
near Saint-Bel and Chessy. He was the third son after Antoine-Gabriel (1728-1795), and Gabriel the elder (1729-1808). He also had three sisters. Jars was educated at the Grand College, Lyon (Lycée Ampère) and then went to work with his father in the mining industry. In 1747, the
École des Ponts et Chaussées
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
(school of bridges and mines) was established and he was sent there to study in 1754.
Daniel Charles Trudaine (1703-1769) who was in charge of the mining industry picked two graduates
Guillot Duhamel and Jars to visit and study mines around France and Europe. In 1756 Jars went to mines and smelting industries in Saxony, Bohemia, Austria, Tyrol, Styria and Carinthia. In 1764 he also visited Newcastle and the border of Scotland. Returning in 1765 he made six reports including on the use of coke in smelting. His next tour was through Liege, Holland, Hanover, Saxony, Sweden and Norway. In 1768 he travelled through France to provide his knowledge to industrial centres. In 1769 a coke blast furnace was set up in
Le Creusot
Le Creusot () is a Communes of France, commune and industrial town in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department, Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France.
The inhabitants are known as Creusotins. Formerl ...
. Jars died from sunstroke at Clermont after visiting the basalts near
Langeac
Langeac (; oc, Lanjac) is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France. It is located about 30 km west of Le Puy-en-Velay, and about 100 km southwest of Lyon.
Population
See also
* Communes of the Haute-Loire de ...
. Gabriel Jars the elder was a 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 of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...
(elected 1761) and it was he who published the third volume.
References
External links
* ''Voyages métallurgiques, ou Recherches et observations sur les mines et forges de fer, la fabrication de l'acier'
Tome 1Tome 2Tome 3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jars, Gabriel
1732 births
1769 deaths
French mining engineers