Pierre Émile Levasseur, 3rd Baron Levasseur (8 December 1828 – 10 July 1911), was a French economist, historian, Professor of geography, history and statistics in the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

, at the

Conservatoire national des arts et métiers A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

and at the École Libre des Sciences Politiques, known as one of the founders and promoters of the study of commercial geography.

Life and work

Levasseur was born in Paris, France, as son of the jewelry manufacturer Pierre Antoine Levasseur. He was educated at the

École Normale Supérieure 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, S ...

in Paris. Levasseur began teaching in the lycée at

Alençon Alençon (, , ; nrf, Alençoun) is a commune in Normandy, France, capital of the Orne department. It is situated west of Paris. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (with 52,000 people). History The name of Alençon is fi ...

in 1852, and in 1857 became professor of

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

. He returned to Paris to become professor at the lycée Saint Louis. In 1868 he was chosen a member of the

Academy of Moral and Political Sciences An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

. In 1872 he was appointed professor of

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

statistics Statistics (from German: '' Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, indust ...

in the

College de France A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

, and subsequently became also professor at the ''Conservatoire des arts et métiers'' and at the École libre des sciences politiques, which later became known as the

Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

He strongly believed in the value of using statistics, graphics, and maps to teach the social sciences at a deeper level, and is credited with inventing the

cartogram A cartogram (also called a value-area map or an anamorphic map, the latter common among German-speakers) is a thematic map of a set of features (countries, provinces, etc.), in which their geographic size is altered to be directly proportiona ...

as a teaching aid. Levasseur was president of the

Société d'économie politique The Société d’Economie Politique () is a French learned society concerned with political economy. It was founded in 1842 to provide a forum for discussion of free trade, a subject of violent debate at the time, and has continued to organize dis ...

. Levasseur was one of the founders of the study of commercial geography, and became a member of the Council of Public Instruction and honorary president of the French geographical society. In 1886, he was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. Levasseur was elected member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

in 1894. He was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...

in 1905.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
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Selected publications

His numerous writings include: *''La question de l'or'' (1858) *''Histoire des classes ouvrières en France depuis la conquête de Jules-César jusqu'à la Révolution'' (1859) *''Histoire des classes ouvrières en France depuis la Révolution jusqu'à nos jours'' (1867) *''L'Étude et l'enseignement de la géographie'' (1871) *''La Population française'' (1889–1892) *''L'Agriculture aux États-Unis'' (1894) *''L'Enseignement primaire dans les pays civilisés'' (1897) *''L'Ouvrier américain'' (1898) *''Questions ouvrières et industrielles sous la Troisième République'' (1907) *''Histoire des classes ouvrières et de l'industrie en France de 1789 à 1870'' (1903–1904) *''Grand Atlas de géographie physique et politique'' (1890–1894).

References

;Attribution

External links

*
Emile Levasseur
at bnf.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Levasseur, Pierre Emile 1828 births 1911 deaths French economists École Normale Supérieure alumni Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the American Antiquarian Society Members of the American Philosophical Society