Jacques Besson (1540?–1573) was a French

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

inventor, mathematician, and philosopher, chiefly remembered for his popular treatise on machines ''Theatrum Instrumentorum'' (1571–1572), which saw many reprints in different languages.

Life

Little information has survived about Besson's early life; he described himself as being from Colombières, part of Escarton de Oulx, now in Cesana Torinese, Italy. He was most likely born around 1540. In the early 1550s he is recorded as teaching mathematics in

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, following which the next account of him dates from April 1557, when he is recorded in the minutes of the town council of

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

, Switzerland, as being paid for models of

pump A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic energy. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method they u ...

s and

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or Spring (hydrology), spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. ...

s. In 1559 he published his first treatise in Zurich, the ''De absoluta ratione extrahendi olea et aquas e medicamentis simplicibus'' (on the complete doctrine of extracting oils and waters from simple drugs), featuring an introduction by

Conrad Gesner Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his tale ...

. That same year he moved to

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

where in 1561 he requested permission to become a citizen of Geneva. His entry in Geneva's ''Livre de Bourgeois'' notes that citizenship was awarded as a result of his services "in teaching the art and science of mathematics" In 1562 Besson became the

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of the

Protestant Reformed Church The Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRC or PRCA) is a Protestant denomination of 33 churches and over 8,000 members. History Beginning and formation The PRC was founded in 1924 as a result of a controversy regarding common grace in the ...

Villeneuve-de-Berg Villeneuve-de-Berg is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France. Geography The village lies in the north central part of the commune, on the right bank of the river Ibie The Ibie is a long river in the Ardèche ''département ...

, France,

Olivier de Serres Olivier de Serres (; 1539–1619) was a French author and soil scientist whose '' Théâtre d'Agriculture'' (1600) was the accepted textbook of French agriculture in the 17th century. Biography Serres was born in 1539 at Villeneuve-de-Berg, ...

having sent a request to the

Company of Pastors The Company of Pastors or Venerable Company (French: ''Compagnie des pasteurs'') is an organization, comparable to a classis, of ministers and deacons of the Protestant Church of Geneva. It was established as part of the implementation of John Cal ...

for a minister. However, less than two years later he was forced out by a rival. By 1565 he was back in Paris, where in 1567 he published his second treatise, ''Le Cosmolabe'', which described an elaborate instrument based on the astrolabe which could be used for

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

, and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

. ''Le Cosmolabe'' also introduced a number of mechanical inventions that he hoped to describe in more detail in a future work. Besson was described as a professor of mathematics from

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and King Charles IX of France made a royal visit to Orléans in 1569, Besson presented to the King a draft of his new treatise, what was to become the ''Theatrum Instrumentorum''. and returned with him to

as "master of the King's Engines". Charles gave Besson exclusive rights to his designs in that same year. While employed by the court, Besson also created an ingenious screw-cutting lathe that was semi-automatic, in that the operator only needed to pull and release a cord. Besson's ''Theatrum Instrumentorum'' (Theater of Machines), was completed and published in 1571 or 1572. It was a unique work; previously, works on engineering and technology such as Valturio's ''De re militari'' (1472), Biringuccio's ''Pirotechnia'' (1540) and

Agricola Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to: People Cognomen or given name :''In chronological order'' * Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85) * Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the mi ...

's '' De re metallica'' (1556), had had only limited descriptions of new inventions or recounted inventions of the past without much detail. In contrast, Besson's work was a collection of his own new inventions with detailed illustrations of each engraved by

Jacques Androuet du Cerceau Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau, also given as Du Cerceau, DuCerceau, or Ducerceau (1510–1584) was a well-known French designer of architecture, ornament, furniture, metalwork and other decorative designs during the 16th century, and the founder ...

to his specifications. Some of his designs suggested important improvements to

lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to c ...

s and the waterwheel. The

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

captions to the highly detailed drawings were sparse, however, which would seem to indicate that the text was probably produced in a hurry. Even the title page does not give the name of the printer or the date of publication. The rush in publishing the book may have been due to the crackdown on French

s that culminated in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572. Although Besson was favoured by King Charles IX, he feared the increasing anti-Protestant sentiment in France, and emigrated to England shortly after the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572, where he died in 1573. The ''Theatrum Instrumentorum'' had proved so popular that a second edition appeared in 1578, with more detailed descriptions of the instruments and machines by François Béroalde de Verville. The copper plates from the original edition were reused, except for four which were replaced by new engravings produced by

René Boyvin René Boyvin (1525–1598) was an influential French engraver who lived in Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the provinc ...

Honours

Besson Rock in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named after Jacques Besson.

References

External links

* * http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/HST/Besson/besson.htm * http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9078938/Jacques-Besson * http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/HST/Besson/besson-introduction.htm * http://libcoll.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/elib/rara/YD9NH338 (another digitized version) {{DEFAULTSORT:Besson, Jacques 1540s births 1573 deaths 16th-century French inventors French Protestants Huguenots 16th-century French writers 16th-century male writers