Louis-Guillaume Le Monnier (sometimes written as Lemonnier) (27 June 1717 – 7 September 1799) was a French
natural scientist
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatabili ...
and contributor to the
''.
Frank A. Kafker: ''Notices sur les auteurs des dix-sept volumes de « discours » de l'Encyclopédie.'' Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie Année (1989) Volume 7 Numéro 7 p. 147
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He was born near Vire
Vire () is a town and a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Vire Normandie.
Geography
The town is located on the river Vire. Much of it ...
as the son of Pierre Le Monnier (1675–1757), who was a scientist himself and a member 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 ...
.[ Cuvier, G.: '' Éloge historique de Lemmonier'', 7 October 1800.] Louis-Guillaume's older brother was the astronomer Pierre Charles Le Monnier.[Crépel, P.:]
La 'physique' dans ''l'Encyclopédie''
, ''Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie, numéro 40–41'', 2006. ISSN 1955-2416.
Louis-Guillaume Le Monnier worked in physics, geology, medicine, and botany. In 1739 he accompanied the expedition of César-François Cassini de Thury
César-François Cassini de Thury (17 June 1714 – 4 September 1784), also called Cassini III or Cassini de Thury, was a French astronomer and cartographer.
Biography
Cassini de Thury was born in Thury-sous-Clermont, in the Oise departme ...
and Nicolas Louis de Lacaille
Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (; 15 March 171321 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a French astronomer and geodesist who named 14 out of the 88 constellations. From 1750 to 1754, he studied the sky at the Cape of Good ...
to extend the Meridian of Paris
The Paris meridian is a meridian line running through the Paris Observatory in Paris, France – now longitude 2°20′14.02500″ East. It was a long-standing rival to the Greenwich meridian as the prime meridian of the world. The "Paris meridi ...
and documented mines and the geology and botany along the route.Saint Germain en Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris.
Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...
as a physician. He researched electrical phenomena, sending a current from a Leyden jar
A Leyden jar (or Leiden jar, or archaically, sometimes Kleistian jar) is an electrical component that stores a high-voltage electric charge (from an external source) between electrical conductors on the inside and outside of a glass jar. It typi ...
through a wire 950 toises (about 1,850 m) long and concluded that electricity propagated "instantaneously" in the wire.[Le Monnier, L.-G.: "Recherches sur la Communication de l'Electricité", ]
Histoire de l'Académie royale des sciences (1746)
', pp. 477ff. Later research of his on electrical phenomena was concerned with thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
s and the "fair weather condition
The global atmospheric electrical circuit is the continuous movement of atmospheric electricity between the ionosphere and the Earth. Through the balance of thunderstorms and fair weather, the atmosphere is subject to a continual and substantial e ...
".[Le Monnier, L.-G.: "Observations sur l'Electricité de l'Air", ]
Histoire de l'Académie royale des sciences (1752)
', pp. 233ff.
Like his father and his brother before him, Louis-Guillaume became a member of the ''Académie des sciences'' on 3 July 1743,Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
on 7 February 1745,[The Royal Society]
Lists of Fellows of the Royal Society 1660 – 2007
URL. Retrieved 19 February 2010. of which his brother also was a member. On 30 June 1746, one year after his brother, he also became a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences.[Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften]
Mitglieder der Vorgänger-Akademien
URL. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
With Claude Richard he was one of the original organizers of Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
's botanic collection at Petit Trianon
The Petit Trianon (; French for "small Trianon") is a Neoclassical style château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built between 1762 and 1768 during the reign of King Louis XV of France. T ...
, an undertaking quickly joined by Bernard de Jussieu. Lemonnier was appointed professor of botany at the Jardin du Roi (later the Jardin des Plantes) in 1759, filling a spot left by the death of Bernard de Jussieu's brother Antoine
Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin.
The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guiana ...
in April of the previous year. In 1786 he was succeeded as professor of botany by René Louiche Desfontaines
René Louiche Desfontaines (14 February 1750 – 16 November 1833) was a French botanist.
Desfontaines was born near Tremblay, Ille-et-Vilaine , Tremblay in Brittany. He attended the Collège de Rennes and in 1773 went to Paris to study medi ...
.[French National Archives]
Jardin du Roi: Botanistes
URL. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
For Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...
's '' Encyclopédie'' he wrote several entries, among them "Electricité", "Magnétisme", "Aimant" (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, ...
), and "Aiguille aimantée" (Compass needle
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...
).[''L'Encyclopédie'': " Aiguille aimantée".] After 1759, he stopped publishing, though.[Wronecki, M.-H.; Blondel, Ch.:]
Le Monnier (ou Lemonnier), Louis-Guillaume (1717–1799)
, ''Ampère et l'histoire de l'électricité'', CNRS, 2005. URL. Retrieved 16 February 2010. In his later career, he became in 1770 "Premier médecin ordinaire"Governess of the Children of France The Governess of the Children of France (sometimes the Governess of the Royal Children) was office at the royal French court during pre-Revolutionary France and the Bourbon Restoration. She was charged with the education of the children and grandchi ...
.
His publications include:
*''Leçons de physique expérimentale, sur l'équilibre des liqueurs et sur la nature et les propriétés de l'air'' (1742).
*''Observations d'histoire naturelle faites dans les provinces méridionales de France, pendant l'année 1739'' (1744).
*''Recherches sur la Communication de l'Electricité'' (1746).
*''Observations sur l'Electricité de l'Air'' (1752).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemonnier, Louis-Guillaume
1717 births
1799 deaths
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772)
Fellows of the Royal Society
Scientists from Paris
18th-century French botanists
18th-century French physicists