Henri Louis Habert de Montmor ( 1600,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

– 21 January 1679,

) was a French scholar and man of letters.

Biography

Cousin to Philippe Habert and

Germain Habert Germain Habert de Cérisy (1610 – May 1654) was a French churchman and poet. He was abbot of Saint-Vigor. Germain Habert was born in Paris. He was the cousin of Henri Louis Habert de Montmor, brother of Philippe Habert and like Philippe a f ...

, he became conseiller du roi aged 25, then in 1632 rose to become

maître des requêtes A Master of Requests () is a counsel of the French ''Conseil d'État'' (Council of State), a high-level judicial officer of administrative law in France. The office has existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages. The occupational title ...

, a post he gained thanks to the fortune of his father, treasurer extraordinary for war and treasurer of savings. He married Henriette-Marie de Buade, sister of

Louis de Buade de Frontenac Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (; 22 May 162228 November 1698) was a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France in North America from 1672 to 1682, and again from 1689 to his death in 1698. He established a num ...

, future governor of

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

. He attended on

Marie de Gournay Marie de Gournay (; 6 October 1565, Paris – 13 July 1645) was a French writer, who wrote a novel and a number of other literary compositions, including ''The Equality of Men and Women'' (''Égalité des hommes et des femmes'', 1622) and ' ...

and wrote Latin epigrams. In 1634, he was elected an inaugural member of the Académie française, pronouncing its fifth discourse but soon becoming a dissenting member as well as its last inaugural member to die. An avid supporter of Descartes, Habert wrote a poem on Cartesian physics entitled ''De rerum naturae'' and collected scientific instruments. He was a friend of

Mersenne Marin Mersenne, OM (also known as Marinus Mersennus or ''le Père'' Mersenne; ; 8 September 1588 – 1 September 1648) was a French polymath whose works touched a wide variety of fields. He is perhaps best known today among mathematicians for ...

, who dedicated his ''Harmonie Universelle'' to Montmor, and a great friend of

Pierre Gassendi Pierre Gassendi (; also Pierre Gassend, Petrus Gassendi; 22 January 1592 – 24 October 1655) was a French philosopher, Catholic priest, astronomer, and mathematician. While he held a church position in south-east France, he also spent much t ...

, who dedicated to him his ''Life of

Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe ( ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe; generally called Tycho (14 December 154624 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his comprehensive astronomical observations, generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. He was ...

''. Gassendi also left him an astronomical telescope he had been left by Galileo. Three years after Gassendi's death, Habert edited his complete works in 6 volumes, writing its Latin preface. Besides Gassendi, he gathered a salon of savants and philosophers which included, among others:

Pierre Daniel Huet P. D. Huetius Pierre Daniel Huet (; la, Huetius; 8 February 1630 – 26 January 1721) was a French churchman and scholar, editor of the Delphin Classics, founder of the Académie de Physique in Caen (1662-1672) and Bishop of Soissons from 1685 t ...

Jean Chapelain Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle, best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française. Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a l ...

, Adrien Auzout,

Girard Desargues Girard Desargues (; 21 February 1591 – September 1661) was a French mathematician and engineer, who is considered one of the founders of projective geometry. Desargues' theorem, the Desargues graph, and the crater Desargues on the Moon are ...

, Samuel Sorbière, Claude Clerselier,

Jacques Rohault Jacques Rohault (; 1618 – 27 December 1672) was a French philosopher, physicist and mathematician, and a follower of Cartesianism. Life Rohault was born in Amiens, the son of a wealthy wine merchant, and educated in Paris. Having grown up with ...

Guy Patin Guy (or Guido) Patin (1601 in Hodenc-en-Bray, Oise – 30 August 1672 in Paris) was a French 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 France starti ...

, Frénicle de Bessy, Pierre Petit,

Melchisédech Thévenot Melchisédech (or Melchisédec) Thévenot (c. 1620 – 29 October 1692) was a French author, scientist, traveler, cartographer, orientalist, inventor, and diplomat. He was the inventor of the spirit level and is also famous for his popular posthumo ...

, Roberval and Huygens. They were all passionate about scientific experiments and formed in 1657 the "Académie Montmor", which was based in his house. It ceased to exist in 1664 as a result of petty squabbles, but one of the members, Adrien Auzout, indicated in a letter of dedication to Louis XIV in 1664 that there was a need for a public observatory, and that there was a group ready to begin its work if it received royal sponsorship. A proposed constitution was circulated to former Academy members but numerous modifications were made before the

Académie des 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 ...

was finally created in 1666.

References

External links

Biography on the Galileo Project
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Biography on the Académie française site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Habert Fe Montmor, Henri Louis 1600s births 1679 deaths 17th-century French scientists Members of the Académie Française 17th-century French male writers

Biography

See also

References

External links