Belhoste Bruno. Paris Savant: Capital of Science in the Age of Enlightenment

Oxford University Press, 2019. — 328 p. — ISBN 9780199382545, 0199382549.Novelist Honoré de Balzac was the first to use the phrase «Paris savant» to refer to the dynamic Parisian scientific and intellectual community of the late 18th century. The Academy of Sciences was highly active during this time, and was a meeting place for intellectual and scientific elite, who worked together toward the diffusion of scientific knowledge into Parisian society. The Royal Observatory was a headquarters for French astronomy, as well as the great geodesic project to map all of France. The Royal Mint hosted courses in chemistry and mining, and the Arsenal near the Bastille housed the laboratory of Lavoisier, the most celebrated chemist of the age.
This book is the English translation of Bruno Belhoste's «Paris Savant: Encounters in Enlightenment Science», originally published in France in 2011. Belhoste discusses how the Parisian scientific community came into its important place in the French Enlightenment, focusing on the Academy of Sciences. Chapters cover subjects such as what role Parisian geography played in the movement, the contributions of French scientists to industrial and urban improvement, and how the Academy of Sciences clashed with the revolutionary crisis, resulting in its closing in 1793. The translation includes a prologue for English readers.List of Illustrations.
Foreword by Dena Goodman.
Preface.
The Gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences.
The Louvre, Seat of the Academies.
Academic Authority and Influence.
The Company.
Honorary Members.
Ordinary Academicians.
The Classes.
The Meetings.
Maneuvers and Intrigues.
Anti-academism.
The Capital of the Sciences.
Science in the Republic of Letters.
The World of Parisian Scholars.
The Paris Observatory and Astronomy.
The Naturalists at the Royal Botanical Garden.
The Expertise of Savants.
The Mint.
The School of Mines and the School of Roads and Bridges.
The Royal Manufactories and the Machine Depository.
Fields of Knowledge in the City.
A Geography of Paris Savant.
Enlightenment Paris.
In the Latin Quarter.
Medical Education.
The Paris of the Trades.
The Art of Chemistry and the Parisian Trades.
Urban Machines.
On the Outskirts of Paris.
The World Comes to Paris.
The Encyclopédie.
The Scandal of the Plates.
A Project of the Parisian Book Trade.
The Editors.
Making the Encyclopédie.
The Battle over the Encyclopédie.
Victory.
The Court and the Town.
The Nine Sisters.
Salon Society.
Friendship of the High and Mighty.
Savants as Courtiers.
A Worldly Science?
Amateurs and Collectors.
A New Master: The Public.
From the Musée de Monsieur to the Lycée.
The Journal de Paris.
Spectacles and Marvels.
A Subscription at the Café du Caveau.
Gardens and Boulevards.
At the Merchant Palace.
The Spectacle of Balloons.
Science for Everyone.
The Physics Demonstrators.
Charlatans or Physicists?
Inventions.
The Quinquet lamp.
Quinquet and Argand.
Argand’s Failure.
The Lamp Belongs to Everyone.
Parisian Trades and Inventions.
Watt versus Périer.
Javel Water.
The Gobelins Dyers.
Public Hygiene.
The City and Its Scientists.
The Hôtel-Dieu.
The Cemetery of the Innocents.
Solids and Fluids.
The Water Company.
Waste Water.
Respiration and the Chemistry of Gases.
Lavoisier’s Bird.
Cadet, Pilâtre, and Cesspits.
The Severe Science.
The Great Water Experiment and Balloons.
Chemistry at the Arsenal.
Laplace’s Celestial Mechanics.
The Empire of Calculus.
The Physicists’ Crusade.
The Condemnation of Mesmerism.
Phlogistics Ridiculed.
Savants and Instrument Makers.
Winning Over Public Opinion, Educating the Public.
Revolution!
The Savants in Revolution.
The Rise of Voluntary Societies.
The Elite Parisian Craftsmen Take Action.
Plans for Public Education.
Invention of the Metric System.
Paris and the Meter.
Naturalists and the Creation of the Museum.
Lavoisier, One Last Time.
Epilogue.
Cast of Characters.
Bibliography.
Index.