Étienne Noël (29 September 1581 – 16 October 1659) was a Jesuit priest and natural philosopher. He was a teacher of

René Descartes René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...

and is best known for clashing with

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...

on the idea of vacuum. Noël was born in

Bassigny The arrondissement of Langres is an arrondissement of France in the Haute-Marne department in the Grand Est region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are b ...

and joined the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...

in 1599. He then became a teacher at

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

in 1605 and in 1606 at the college of

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most p ...

was a student here from 1607 to 1614 and Noël taught philosophy here. In 1646 he became rector at the

College de Clermont A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary school ...

in Paris. While here he published ''Aphorismi physici'' (1646) and ''Sol flamma'' (1646) and sent copies of it to Descartes. He was a follower of Aristotelian physics. In 1646 Pascal conducted experiments along with

Evangelista Torricelli Evangelista Torricelli ( ; ; 15 October 160825 October 1647) was an Italian people, Italian physicist and mathematician, and a student of Benedetto Castelli. He is best known for his invention of the barometer, but is also known for his advances i ...

and published ''Expériences nouvelles touchant le vide'' (1647) in which he considered what the region above the mercury column was made of. Pascal suggested that it was a vacuum, which Noël opposed using the Aristotelian concept and suggested that it was filled with a part of air that could pass through the pores in glass. Descartes also suggested that some other form of matter existed. Noël published ''Le Plein du Vuide'' in response in 1648. Pascal responded to this initially in a letter to Jacques Le Pailleur and later directly to Noël. Pascal noted that it was not enough for a hypothesis to be true based on its consequences but also by whether it leads to contradictions. The debate was followed up by the

Puy de Dôme Puy de Dôme (, ) is a lava dome and one of the youngest volcanoes in the region of Massif Central in central France. This chain of volcanoes including numerous cinder cones, lava domes and maars is far from the edge of any tectonic plate. ...

experiment on September 19, 1648. His writings included: * ''Aphorismi physici, seu Physicæ peripateticæ principia breviter ac dilucide proposita'', La Flèche, 1646. * ''Sol flamma, sive Tractatus de sole, ut flamma est, ejusque pabulo'', Paris, 1647. * ''Le Plein du Vuide, ou le corps dont le vuide apparent des expériences nouvelles est rempli trouvé par d'autres expériences, confirmé par les mesmes et démonstré par raisons physiques'', Paris, 1648. * ''Physica vetus et nova'', Paris, 1648. * ''Interpres naturæ sive Arcana physica septem libris comprehensa'', La Flèche, 1653. * ''Examen logicarum'', La Flèche, 1658.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noël, Étienne 1581 births 1659 deaths French Jesuits Jesuit philosophers