Michel Ferdinand D'Albert D'Ailly
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Michel Ferdinand d'Albert, 5th
Duke of Chaulnes The title of Duke of Chaulnes (), a French peerage, is held by the d'Albert family beginning in 1621. History First creation (1621–1698) The duchy of Chaulnes was established by letters patent in January 1621 and registered on 6 March 1621 a ...
(31 December 1714 – 23 September 1769), Duke of
Picquigny Picquigny () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Picquigny is situated at the junction of the N235, the D141 and D3 roads, on the banks of the river Somme, some northwest (and downstream) o ...
and then
Duke of Chaulnes The title of Duke of Chaulnes (), a French peerage, is held by the d'Albert family beginning in 1621. History First creation (1621–1698) The duchy of Chaulnes was established by letters patent in January 1621 and registered on 6 March 1621 a ...
from 1744, was a French
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
,
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
and
freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
.


Early life

Michel Ferdinand d'Albert d'Ailly was the younger son of Marie Anne Romaine de Beaumanoir and Louis Auguste d'Albert d'Ailly, 4th Duke of Chaulnes (1676–1744). His elder brother was
Charles François d'Albert d'Ailly Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...
, 5th
Duke of Chaulnes The title of Duke of Chaulnes (), a French peerage, is held by the d'Albert family beginning in 1621. History First creation (1621–1698) The duchy of Chaulnes was established by letters patent in January 1621 and registered on 6 March 1621 a ...
(1707–1731). His paternal grandfather was Charles Honoré d'Albert, 3rd Duke of Luynes. Among his cousins were
Charles Philippe d'Albert de Luynes Charles Philippe d'Albert, 4th Duke of Luynes (30 July 1695 – 2 November 1758) held the title Duke of Luynes from 1712 to 1758. He wrote an important memoir of life at the court of Louis XV. Early life Charles-Philippe was a grandson of ...
, the 4th Duke of Luynes as well as the astronomer
Paul d'Albert de Luynes Paul d'Albert (; 5 January 1703 – 21 January 1788) was a French prelate. He was elected the seventh occupant of Académie française seat 29 in 1743. Early life Paul d'Albert was born on 5 January 1703 in the city of Versailles, where his fam ...
,
Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
and
Archbishop of Sens The Archdiocese of Sens and Auxerre (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Senonensis et Antissiodorensis''; French language, French: ''Archidiocèse de Sens et Auxerre'') is a Latin Church, Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese co ...
.


Career

He commanded the light cavalry of the ''
Maison du Roi The Maison du Roi (, 'King's Household') was the royal household of the King of France. It comprised the military, domestic, and religious entourage of the French royal family during the Ancien Régime and Bourbon Restoration in France, Bourbon R ...
'' (). In 1750 he became the king's commissioner to the
Estates of Brittany The Estates of Brittany was the States Provincial for the province of Brittany. It gathered members of the high clergy, a large number of nobles and delegates from the 42 towns and cities of Brittany. In 1788, it included nearly 1,000 nobles as op ...
and persuaded the assembly to accept the
Vingtième The ''vingtième'' (, ''twentieth'') was an income tax of the ''ancien régime'' in France. It was abolished during the French Revolution. First Proposition It was first proposed by the minister of finance, Jean-Baptiste de Machault, comte d'Ar ...
tax.


Scientific interests

As an astronomer and physicist he was particularly interested in scientific instruments and used most of his income to build and collect them. His estate contains a remarkable amount of rare and curious items collected from
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
,
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, including
Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things: **Etruscan language ** Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan coins **Etruscan history **Etruscan myt ...
vases of all types, antique
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
s and
natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
specimens. At a time when physicists were abandoning glass globe
electrostatic generator An electrostatic generator, or electrostatic machine, is an electric generator, electrical generator that produces ''static electricity'', or electricity at high voltage and low continuous current. The knowledge of static electricity dates back t ...
s, which used sulphur or resin, to use glass plates instead, the Duke of Chaulnes built the largest machine of this type that had yet been seen. He used it to produce the effects of lightning for the first time in France. In 1743, he was made an honorary member of the ''
Académie des sciences The French Academy of 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 method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
''. Two years after, he published a
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...
in article form which described his experiments, and was included at the beginning of Newton's ''
Opticks ''Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light'' is a collection of three books by Isaac Newton that was published in English language, English in 1704 (a scholarly Latin translation appeared in 1706). ...
Bk. IV''. In this work he described his discovery of the peculiarities of the diffraction of light rays reflected by a concave mirror and how they might be stopped by a board pierced in the middle. In 1765, he introduced an astronomical instrument fitted with two
achromatic lens An achromatic lens or achromat is a lens (optics), lens that is designed to limit the effects of chromatic aberration, chromatic and spherical aberration. Achromatic lenses are corrected to bring two wavelengths (typically red and blue) into ...
es. He also invented a new microscope and had it built in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
; his description of the microscope included several plates. He first thought of the manufacture of artificial
mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. It is usually still, but may be sparkling ( carbonated/ effervescent). Traditionally, mineral waters were used or consumed at t ...
. His final work was a thesis on a new triquetrum which was stronger and easier to use than previous models.


Personal life

He married Anne Josèphe Bonnier (1718–1787), who replaced the Viscountess of Beaune in 1766 as one of Queen
Marie Leszczynska Marie may refer to the following. People Given name * Marie (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** List of people named Marie * Marie (Japanese given name) Surname * Jean Gabriel-Marie, French compose ...
's
ladies-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but ...
. Together, they were the parents of: *
Louis Joseph d'Albert d'Ailly Louis Joseph d'Albert, 6th Duke of Chaulnes (1741–1792), sixth Duke of Chaulnes and son of Michel Ferdinand d'Albert d'Ailly, was a chemist and French aristocrat. Biography At the death of his father in 1769, Louis Joseph inherited the tit ...
(1741–1792), who inherited the dukedom and married his cousin, Marie Paule Angélique d'Albert (1744–1781), a daughter of Charles Louis d'Albert de Luynes. She served as Lady of the Queen and accompany of the Dauphin (1770-1774). He died in Paris in 1769. His eulogy was published in the 1769 volume of the anthology of the ''Académie des sciences''.


Publications

* ''Nouvelle Méthode pour diviser les instruments de mathématiques'', in ''Description des arts et métiers'', published by the ''Académie des sciences'', 1768, in-fol. 44 p. with 15 illustrations. * , Paris, 1768, in-fol. 18 p. with 6 illustrations. With this method, the Duke managed to obtain, from a
quadrant Quadrant may refer to: Companies * Quadrant Cycle Company, 1899 manufacturers in Britain of the Quadrant motorcar * Quadrant (motorcycles), one of the earliest British motorcycle manufacturers, established in Birmingham in 1901 * Quadrant Privat ...
with a radius of 11 inches, almost the same precision as from a quadrant with a radius of six feet which was at the
observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...
. He had already published the principles of this work in a thesis of 1755. Some parts of it were also in the ''Journal de Physique''. * Six works in the anthology of the ''Académie des sciences''.


References


External links


Michel-Ferdinand d'Albert d'Ailly, 6th duke of Chaulnes
at
The J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthiest a ...

Michel Ferdinand d'Albert d'Ailly, Duc de Chaulnes
at
The British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalbert Dailly, Michel Ferdinand Dukes of Chaulnes 1769 deaths 1714 births 18th-century French astronomers Members of the French Academy of Sciences French physicists House of Albert French Freemasons 18th-century peers of France