André-Jean-François-Marie Brochant de Villiers (6 August 177216 May 1840) was a French

mineralogist Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

and

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

Life

He was born at the Château de Villiers, near

Mantes-la-Ville Mantes-la-Ville () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the center. Mantes-la-Ville is located at the confluence of the Seine and th ...

. After studying at the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

, Paris, he was in 1794 the first pupil admitted to the

École des Mines École or Ecole 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 * Éco ...

. In 1804, he was appointed professor of geology and mineralogy in the École des Mines, which had been temporarily transferred to Pezay in

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

, and he returned with the school to Paris in 1815. Later on, he became inspector general of mines and a member of the Academy of Sciences. He investigated the transition strata of the Tarantaise, wrote on the position of the

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

rocks of

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...

, and on the lead minerals of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

and

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

. He was charged with overseeing the construction of the

geological map A geological map or geologic map is a special-purpose map made to show various geological features. Rock (geology), Rock units or stratum, geologic strata are shown by color or symbols. Bed (geology), Bedding planes and structural features such ...

of France, undertaken by his pupils Dufrénoy and

Elie de Beaumont Elie may refer to: People * Elie (given name) * Elie (surname) Places * Elie, Fife, a village in Scotland, now part of the town of Elie and Earlsferry * Elie, Manitoba, Canada ** Elie, Manitoba tornado See also * Elie Hall, Grenada * Elie Hous ...

. Brochant de Villiers died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 16 May 1840.

Publications

*''Traité élémentaire de minéralogie'' (2 vols., 1801–1802; 2nd ed., 1808) *''Traité abrégé de cristallographie'' (Paris, 1818). *''De La Cristallisation Consideree Geometriquement et Physiquement'' (1819) *''Memoirs Pour Servir a une Description Geologique de la France'' (1830–38)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brochant de Villiers, Andre-Jean-Francois-Marie 1772 births 1840 deaths French geologists French mineralogists Members of the French Academy of Sciences