Amontons, Guillaume

1. Dates

Born: Paris, 31 Aug. 1663

Died: Paris, 11 Oct. 1705

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan: 42

2. Father

Occupation: Lawyer

His father was a lawyer from Normandy who settled in Paris.

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: Paris, France

Career: France

Death: Paris, France

4. Education

Schooling: No University

Amontons studied physical sciences, mathematics, and celestial mechanics. He also studied drawing, surveying, architecture.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic (assumed)

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Mechanics, Instrumentation

Published his only book, Remarques et experiences physiques sur la construction d'une nouvelle clepsydre (Paris, 1695), and many papers.

Main contributions are made in experimental physics and scientific instruments.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Government

He was employed on various public works projects.

He became a member of the Académie.

8. Patronage

Type: Scientist

Amontons tried out his optical telegraph in the presence of the royal family sometime between 1688 and 1695. There is no evidence that anything came of this.

He dedicated his only book, Remarques & experiences physiques sur la construction d'une nouvelle clepsydre, sur les barometres, thermometres, & hydrometres, to the Académie des Sciences.

He was proposed as a member of the Académie by LeFévre.

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Instruments, Civil Engineering, Navigation, Mechanical Devices

Hygrometer, 1687.

Optical telegraph, 1688-1695. I am listing this under Civil Engineering.

Cisternless barameter, 1695.

Air themometer independent of the atmospheric pressure, 1695.

Thermic motor, 1699.

He proposed that his Clepsydra could be used to keep time at sea.

10. Scientific Societies

Membership: Académie des Sciences

He was one of the membre premier titulaire of the reformed Académie in 1690. He was "elevated" by the astronomer LeFévre.

Sources

1. Maurice Daumas, Les instruments scientifique aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siecles, (Paris, 1953). Q185 .D24. No biographical information.
2. Bernard le Bovier de Frontenelle, "Eloge de M. Amontons" in Histoire de l'Academie Royale des Sciences (1705), pp. 189-94.
3. Académie des Sciences, Index biographique de l'Académie des Sciences, (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1979), p. 106.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University