Petit, Pierre

1. Dates

Born: Lagny-sur-Marne, 20 Aug 1677

Died: cb

Dateinfo: 83 2, Father: Gov A minor provincial official. No information on financial status.

Lifespan: N/A

2. Father

Occupation:

3. Nationality

Birth: Montlucon, France

Career: France

Death: Lagny-sur-Marne, France

4. Education

Schooling: No University

Unknown.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic (assumed)

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Physics, Astronomy

7. Means of Support

Primary: Government

1626, he became controleur de l'election in Montlucon.

1633, traveled to Paris where he was appointed commissaire provincial de l'artillerie and Ingenieur du roi, charged with visiting all the ports of France and Italy.

1642, he is listed as conseiller du roi, ingenieur du roi, and geographe du roi.

1649, he became Intendant General des Fortifications.

8. Patronage

Types: Government Official, Court Official

Petit's father was a minor provincial official. He resigned his post as controleur for his son's sake.

Richelieu was directly responsible for his appointment in 1633.

Louis XIV commissioned Petit to write a work on comets. Dissertation sur la nature des Cometes (1665) is dedicated to Louis.

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Instruments, Military Engineering, Civil Engineering, Cartography

His collection of telescopes and instruments was among the best in Paris. It included a filar micrometer, which Petit invented or developed, later used by Cassini I. There is debate as to whether Petit was independent of Auzout in this instrument.

I assume some familiarity with military and civil engineering and cartography, based on the positions he held.

10. Scientific Societies

Membership: Royal Society

He was a member of the group of savants meeting at Mersenne's lodgings, and worked with or knew a large number of the scientists of the period. In 1646 he collaborated with Blaise Pascal repeating Torricelli's experiments on barometric vacuum [Pierre Humbert, L'oeuvre scientifique de Blaise Pascal (Paris, 1947), pp. 73 ff.]. A member of the Montmor academy, he was a forceful advocate for the establishment of an official scientific organization, but was passed over by Colbert in the initial selection of members of the Academie in 1666. As far as I know, he never was made a member. [see Harcourt Brown, Scientific Organizations in the Seventeenth Century (Baltimore, 1934), passim]

He was a regular correspondent with Henry Oldenburg and played a central role facilitating the exchange of ideas between the two communities. He was elected a foreign fellow of the Royal Society in 1667.

Sources

1. J. Michaud, Biographie universelle, 33 (Paris, 1823), 484-5 [CT153.B6].
2. Piere Bayle, Grande Dictionnaire Historique..., 7 (Amsterdam, 1740), 151 [D9.M8 v.7]. Nouvelle biographie générale, 39, (Paris, 1863), cols. 709-10 [Lilly RR CT143.H7 1963 v. 39].
3. Robert McKeon, "Les débuts de l'astronomie de precision," Physis, 13 (1971), 225-88; 14 (1972), 221-42; especially 13, 254-6 and 269-75.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.