Sylvie Pétiaux (, Pétiaux-Hugo; after first marriage, Mathieu; after second marriage, Flammarion;

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

, Sylvio Hugo; November 28, 1836 – February 23, 1919) was a French

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

. She was the wife of the astronomer,

Camille Flammarion Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction ...

, and collaborator with him in much of his astronomical work. She was a

Prix Jules Janssen The Prix Jules Janssen is the highest award of the Société astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society. This annual prize is given to a professional French astronomer or to an astronomer of another nationality in recognition ...

laureate in 1902.''La Vie heureuse'' (Paris), 15 juillet 1908, p. 145.
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Biography

Sylvie Pétiaux-Hugo was born in

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

on November 28, 1836. She was the daughter of Casimir-Joseph Pétiaux (1807-1883) and Marie-Stéphanie Hugo (1811-1892). She claimed to be related to

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

, but this seems to be an invention. Her sister was Zélie-Rosalie Pétiaux (1838-1873), an opera singer, wife of Count Mikhaïl Illarionovitch Moussine-Pouchkine (1836-1915), and her niece was Olga Illarionova Moussine-Pouchkine (1865-1947), a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist with the Russian imperial theaters, who became the master of a

Martinist Martinism is a form of Christian mysticism and esoteric Christianity concerned with the fall of the first man, his state of material privation from his divine source, and the process of his return, called 'Reintegration'. As a mystical traditio ...

lodge in Russia. Camille Flammarion will also be linked to

Gérard Encausse Gérard Anaclet Vincent Encausse (July 13, 1865 – 25 October 1916), whose esoteric pseudonyms were Papus and Tau Vincent, was a French physician, hypnotist, and popularizer of occultism, who founded the modern Martinist Order. Early li ...

, known as "Papus". Camille Flammarion

She married Esprit Mathieu (1810-1873) on December 31, 1859 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 ...

. In 1874, she married the astronomer,

with whom she had been having an affair for several years. He took her in a balloon for their

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...

. Pétiaux shared the same interest for astronomy as her husband. She remained for many years a devoted and assiduous collaborator in all of his work. It is at her initiative that the , rewarding eminent services rendered to the

Société astronomique de France The Société astronomique de France (SAF; ), the French astronomical society, is a non-profit association in the public interest organized under French law (Association loi de 1901). Founded by astronomer Camille Flammarion in 1887, its purpose ...

, was established. In Paris, Pétiaux hosted the popular (star exhibitions). In 1889, she was the founder and active promoter of an association of women advocating peace and disarmament, (Association for peace and disarmament by women). It was the third women's peace society established in Paris. Run only by women and with only women speakers, its emphasis was on the dangers associated with the arms race. She was a speaker at the

Universal Peace Congress A peace congress, in international relations, has at times been defined in a way that would distinguish it from a peace conference (usually defined as a diplomatic meeting to decide on a peace treaty), as an ambitious forum to carry out dispute re ...

of 1907 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Under the pseudonym of "Sylvio Hugo", she authored her husband's biography, (1891), and also wrote a novel. She died of the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

in the

14th arrondissement of Paris The 14th arrondissement of Paris ( ), officially named ''arrondissement de l'Observatoire'' (; meaning "arrondissement of the Observatory", after the Paris Observatory), is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is situa ...

on February 23, 1919, at the age of 82 years. Her tomb is located in the park of the Camille Flammarion Observatory of Juvisy-sur-Orge.

Awards and honours

Pétiaux was awarded the

in 1902, in recognition of her astronomical work and her services in behalf of the Astronomical Society of France, and the Observatory of Juvisy.

Selected works

* ''Camille Flammarion, sa vie et son oeuvre : à propos des fêtes de Montigny-le-Roi'', 1891

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petiaux, Sylvie 1836 births 1919 deaths People from Valenciennes French feminists French pacifists Women founders 19th-century biographers French biographers French women biographers