Elie Bertrand (17 May 1713 – 23 August 1797) was a Swiss geologist, naturalist, pastor and theologian.

Biography

Bertrand was born on 17 May 1713 in

Orbe Orbe (; ; older , ; ) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was the seat of the former district of Orbe and is now part of the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois. History Orbe is first mentioned about 280 as ''Urba''. In 1179, it wa ...

Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of Subdivisions of the canton of Vaud, ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat ...

, Switzerland, as the son of Elie Bertrand, an

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...

and president of the

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...

of Orbe, and Marie Faure (or Favre). He was a descendant of French

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

from

Nyons Nyons (; ) is a subprefecture of the Drôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. In 2021, the commune had a population of 6,771. Nyons is a sub-prefecture of the department. Its olives have PDO status.

Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was ...

, who took refuge in Switzerland in 1684 and acquired the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

of Orbe in 1699. His older brother, , was a pastor and agronomist. Bertrand studied theology at

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

and

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

from 1731 to 1738. He was ordained in Lausanne in 1740 and served as pastor at Ballaigues and Orbe from 1740 to 1744. Bertrand then entered the service of the French church of

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

as a deacon in 1744, then as pastor until 1765. A close advisor to King

Stanisław August Poniatowski Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, and as Stanisław August Poniatowski (), was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuani ...

of Poland in 1765, Bertrand directed the Department of Industry, Agriculture and Natural Sciences at

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

from 1765 to 1766, and was admitted to the

Polish nobility The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

in 1768. In 1767, Bertrand returned to Switzerland, settling in

Champagne Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

near

Yverdon Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Ancient Rome, Roman era) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Jura-North Vaudois District, Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It ...

, where he founded the city's library and economic society and devoted himself to science. His

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 ...

cabinet was at the origin of the museum of Yverdon (). Bertrand corresponded with

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

Albrecht von Haller Albrecht von Haller (also known as Albertus de Haller; 16 October 170812 December 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, encyclopedist, bibliographer and poet. A pupil of Herman Boerhaave and Jacob Winslow, he is sometimes r ...

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, was secretary of the Romand Economic Society of Bern, and was a member of the academies of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. In addition to his theological treatises, sermons, and the ''Recueil des ordonnances ecclésiastiques pour le Pays de Vaud'' (1758), Bertrand published numerous works which attest to the variety and scope of his research in philosophy,

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, natural history,

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

and

hydrography Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary ...

. He died on 23 August 1797 in Yverdon, aged 84.

Publications (selection)

* ''Mémoires sur la structure intérieure de la terre'' (Heidegguer, Zurich, 1752). * ''Essai sur les usages des montagnes, avec une lettre sur le Nil'' (Heidegguer, Zurich, 1754). * '' Mémoires historiques et physiques sur les tremblemens de terre'' (Pierre Gosse junior, La Haye, 1757). * ''Recherches sur les langues anciennes et modernes de la Suisse et principalement du pays de Vaud'' (C. et A. Philibert, Genève, 1758). * ** * ''Essai sur l'art de former l'esprit, ou Premiers élémens de la logique'' (G. Regnault, Lyon, 1764). * ''Recueil de divers traités sur l'histoire naturelle de la terre et des fossiles'' (L. Chambeau, Avignon, 1766
Read online
* ''Lettre à M. le Cte de Buffon... ou Critique et Nouvel essai sur la théorie générale de la terre, avec une notice du dernier discours de M. Pallas, sur la formation des montagnes, sur les changemens arrivés au globe, etc.'' (Besançon, 1782).

References

External links

*Auguste Bertholet,
Le 'Mémoire sur la vie de Monsieur Elie Bertrand' (1783), ou la construction de la postérité d’un 'grand homme' des Lumières helvétiques
, ''Trouvailles Lumières.Lausanne'', n° 6, juin 2021, url: https://lumieres.unil.ch/publications/trouvailles/6/. *Frank A. Kafker and Serena L. Kafker, ''The Encyclopedists as individuals: a biographical dictionary of the authors of the Encyclopédie'', ''Studies on Voltaire and the eighteenth century'', 1988.
''Recueil de divers traités sur l'histoire naturelle de la terre et de fossiles''
(1766) - fully digitized facsimile from

Linda Hall Library The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, on the grounds of a urban arboretum. It claims to be the "largest independently funded public library of sc ...

Description
of Bertrand's work from a catalog of a 1984 exhibition abou
Theories of the Earth 1644-1830
at the

(see paragraph at page bottom) *
Historique du fonds de la bibliothèque d’Yverdon
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertrand, Elie 1713 births 1797 deaths People from Orbe Swiss people of French descent Swiss Calvinist and Reformed ministers Swiss Calvinist and Reformed theologians 18th-century Calvinist and Reformed ministers 18th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 18th-century Swiss geologists 18th-century Swiss writers Swiss naturalists Linguists from Switzerland Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772) Swiss expatriates in Poland Polish nobility Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences