Édouard Biot
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Édouard Constant Biot (; July 2, 1803 – March 12, 1850) was a French
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...
and Sinologist. As an engineer, he participated in the construction of the second line of French railway between
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
and
St Etienne ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...
, and as a Sinologist, published a large body of work, the result of a "knowledge rarely combined."


Life

Son of the
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...
and
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 ...
Jean-Baptiste Biot Jean-Baptiste Biot (; ; 21 April 1774 – 3 February 1862) was a French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who co-discovered the Biot–Savart law of magnetostatics with Félix Savart, established the reality of meteorites, made an early ba ...
, he studied classics and mathematics as a free student at the
Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on rue Saint-Jacques in central Paris. It was founded in the ...
in Paris. Admitted in 1822 to the
École Polytechnique 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, Savoi ...
, he chose not to enter and pursue his studies alone. In 1825 and 1826, he accompanied his father as an assistant on scientific expeditions to
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, Illyria and Spain. Back in France, with desire to ensure his independence, he began a career in the emerging railway industry. In 1827, after a preparatory trip to England, he joined forces with
Marc Seguin Marc Seguin (20 April 1786 Р24 February 1875) was a French engineer, inventor of the wire- cable suspension bridge and the multi-tubular steam-engine boiler. Early life Seguin was born in Annonay, Ard̬che to Marc Fran̤ois Seguin, th ...
in the construction of the Lyon–Saint-Etienne railway, whose concession is granted to "MM. Seguin brothers, Édouard Biot and Company. "He worked as an engineer for nearly seven years, using his father's calculations for the levelling of the line. When this project was completed in 1833, he decided to enjoy the independence he had gained to study the Chinese language and
literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
. He attended courses at the school of Stanislas Julien of 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 ...
and soon began a new career. An extensive series of papers, devoted to astronomy, mathematics, geography, history, social life and administration of China, led to his being elected a Fellow of the
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigr ...
in 1847, having already joined the Asiatic Societies of
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
and
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and several other learned societies. His astronomical translations were useful in associating the Crab Nebula with a supernova observed by the Chinese in 1054. Married in 1843, he lost his wife in 1846. Unable to overcome his grief, he fell ill and died in Paris four years later at the age of 46.


Works

Biot translated Charles Babbage's ''On the Economy of Machinery and Manufacture'' into French, and was the author of one of the earliest works on the railways, the ''Manuel du constructeur des chemins de fer'' (''Manual of Railway Construction''), published in 1834. Besides his memoirs on Chinese civilization, most of which were published in the ''
Journal Asiatique The ''Journal asiatique'' (full earlier title ''Journal Asiatique ou Recueil de Mémoires, d'Extraits et de Notices relatifs à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie, aux Langues et à la Littérature des Peuples Orientaux'') is a biannual peer-reviewed ac ...
'', he was also the author of a ''Dictionnaire Géographique de l'Empire Chinois'' (''Geographical Dictionary of the Chinese Empire'') and the ''Histoire de l'Instruction publique en Chine'' (''History of Public Education in China''), as well as the translation into French of the ''Zhou Li'' or '' The Rites of Zhou'', from the series of books forming the ''
Classic of Rites The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The ''Book ...
''. This presents a tableau of an idealized political and administrative organization of China in the eleventh century BC. After his death, the publication was completed under the care of his father. Biot's works are still referred to and his translations have not been superseded.


Publications


Science and technology

*''Traité sur l'économie des machines et des manufactures par Charles Babbage, traduit de l'anglais sur la troisième édition par Éd. Biot'' (1833) *''Manuel du constructeur des chemins de fer, ou Essai sur les principes généraux de l'art de construire les chemins de fer'' (1834)


History

*''De l'Abolition de l'esclavage ancien en Occident'' (1840) *''Mémoire sur la condition de la classe servile au Mexique, avant la conquête des Espagnols'' (1840)


Sinology


Books

*''Dictionnaire des noms anciens et modernes des villes et arrondissements de premier, deuxième et troisième ordre compris dans l'Empire chinois'' (1842) *''Essai sur l'histoire de l'instruction publique en Chine et de la corporation des lettrés'' (2 volumes, 1845-1847) *''Le Tcheou-li ou Rites des Tcheou, traduit pour la première fois du chinois par feu Édouard Biot'' (2 volumes, 1851). Édité par Jean-Baptiste Biot. Réédition : Ch'eng Wen Publishing Co., Taipei, 1975


Papers

*Notice sur quelques procédés industriels connus en Chine au XVIe siècle (1835

*Mémoire sur la population de la Chine et ses variations, depuis l'an 2400 avant J.-C. jusqu'au XVIIe siècle de notre ère (1836

*Mémoire sur la condition des esclaves et des serviteurs gagés en Chine (1837

*Mémoire sur le système monétaire des Chinois (1838

*Mémoire sur les recensements des terres, consignés dans l'Histoire chinoise (1938

*Mémoire sur la condition de la propriété territoriale en Chine, depuis les temps anciens (1838

*Note sur la connaissance que les Chinois ont eue de la valeur de position des chiffres (1839

*Table générale d'un ouvrage chinois intitulé ''Souan-fa-tong-tsong'', ou ''Traité complet de l'art de compter'' (1839

*Mémoire sur divers minéraux chinois, appartenant à la collection du Jardin du roi (1839

*Mémoire sur les montagnes et cavernes de la Chine (1840

*Recherches sur la hauteur de quelques points remarquables du territoire chinois (1840

*Recherches sur la température ancienne de la Chine. (1840

*''Tchou-chou-ki-nien'' (1841

*Traduction et explication du ''Tchéou-peï'' (1841

*Catalogue général des tremblements de terre en Chine (1841) *Mémoire sur le chapitre ''Yu-koung'' du ''Chou-king'' et sur la géographie de la Chine ancienne (1842

*Mémoire sur les déplacements du cours inférieur du fleuve Jaune (1843

*Recherches sur les mœurs anciennes des Chinois, d'après le ''Chi-king'' (1843

*Observations anciennes de la planète Mercure, extraites de la Collection des vingt-quatre historiens de la Chine (1843) *Note sur la direction de l'aiguille aimentée en Chine, et sur les aurores boréales observées dans ce pays (1842) *Mémoire sur l'extension progressive des côtes orientales de la Chine (1844

*Mémoire sur la Constitution politique de la Chine au XIIe siecle avant notre ère (1844) *Études sur les anciens temps de l'Histoire chinoise (1845

*Catalogue de tous les météores observés en Chine, avec la date du jour de l'apparition et l'identification des constellations traversées (1846) *Recherches faites dans la grande collection des historiens de la Chine, sur les anciennes apparitions de la comète de Halley (1846) *Catalogue des comètes observées en Chine, depuis l'an 1230 jusqu'à l'an 1640 de notre ère (1846) *Catalogue des étoiles extraordinaires observées en Chine, depuis les temps anciens jusqu'à l'an 1200 de notre ère (1846) *Mémoire sur les monuments analogues aux pierres druidiques qu'on rencontre dans l'Asie orientale, et en particulier à la Chine (1848) *Mémoires sur les colonies militaires et agricoles des Chinois (1850)


English translations


The cities and towns of China, a geographical dictionary [by E.C. Biot, revised and tr.] by G.M.H. Playfair (1879)


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biot, Edouard French sinologists 19th-century French engineers Chinese–French translators 1803 births 1850 deaths Engineers from Paris Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni Members of the Société Asiatique Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 19th-century translators Writers from Paris