Mathieu Tillet
Encyclopedia
Mathieu Tillet was a French botanist, agronomist, metallurgist and administrator.
Gabriel Tillet and began studying metals at his father's workshop. In 1740 he was appointed Director of the Mint at Troyes
. Ten years later he published his first book, about alloy
s. In 1750, he was awarded a prize by the Academy of Bordeaux for his research concerning the plagues of cereals, especially wheat. In 1755, he published the results of his research as Dissertation sur la cause qui corrompt et noircit les grains de blé dans les épis; et sur les moyens de prévenir ces accidents (Explanation of the cause that corrupts and blackens the grains of wheat in the ears
; and the means to prevent these accidents), and was awarded another prize for it. The fungus Tilletia tritici
, which he describes in this work, was named after him a century later by Charles
and Louis Tulasne
. In 1756 he resigned from his post at the Mint at Troyes and moved to Paris, living on Rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame.
On 9 September 1758, he was admitted to the French Academy of Sciences
as a botanist. He occupied several offices at the Academy over the next decades, finally becoming Treasurer in 1788, after the death of his predecessor Buffon
.
In 1760 and 1761 he traveled around the Angoumois
, researching yet another cereal plague together with his friend and fellow agronomist Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau
. The result of this was the book Histoire d'un insecte qui devore les grains de l'Angoumois (History of an Insect that Devours the Grains of the Angoumois, published by H. L. Guérin & L. F. Delatour, Paris, 1762).
In 1766 he was charged with the making of 24 copies of the Toise de l'Academie
, the official measuring unit of length in the Kingdom of France, and their distribution to the main French cities of the time.
In 1767 he was appointed Inspector-General of the Mint
, a post he held until 1774 when he was succeeded by the Marquis de Condorcet
. In 1773 he became a Knight of the Order of Saint Michael
.
In 1784 he became the General Administrator of the Salpêtrière
. It was during his administration that the Comtesse de la Motte
was imprisoned there for her participation in the Affair of the diamond necklace
, and escaped.
He was a member of the Metric Commission of the Academy of Sciences, with Jean-Charles de Borda
, Joseph Louis Lagrange
, Antoine Lavoisier
, Marquis de Condorcet
, Pierre-Simon Laplace
and Gaspard Monge
, who presented on 19 March 1791, a report to the National Constituent Assembly
in which the basis for the length of the meter was established. The report rejected the fixing by a pendulum that swings once at the equator
, and defined the length of the meter as 1 ten-millionth of a quarter of a meridian
. The meridian was subsequently measured by Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre and Pierre Méchain
Life
He was the son of the goldsmithGoldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
Gabriel Tillet and began studying metals at his father's workshop. In 1740 he was appointed Director of the Mint at Troyes
Troyes
Troyes is a commune and the capital of the Aube department in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about southeast of Paris. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town...
. Ten years later he published his first book, about alloy
Alloy
An alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
s. In 1750, he was awarded a prize by the Academy of Bordeaux for his research concerning the plagues of cereals, especially wheat. In 1755, he published the results of his research as Dissertation sur la cause qui corrompt et noircit les grains de blé dans les épis; et sur les moyens de prévenir ces accidents (Explanation of the cause that corrupts and blackens the grains of wheat in the ears
Ear (botany)
An ear is the grain-bearing tip part of the stem of a cereal plant, such as wheat or maize. It can also refer to "a prominent lobe in some leaves".The ear is a spike, consisting of a central stem on which grows tightly packed rows of flowers...
; and the means to prevent these accidents), and was awarded another prize for it. The fungus Tilletia tritici
Tilletia tritici
Tilletia tritici is the causal agent of common bunt of wheat.The tilletia was named after French agronomist Mathieu Tillet .-Use as a biological weapon:...
, which he describes in this work, was named after him a century later by Charles
Charles Tulasne
Charles Tulasne was a French physician and mycologist who was born in Langeais in the département of Indre-et-Loire. He received his medical doctorate in 1840 and practiced medicine in Paris until 1854. Afterwards he worked with his older brother Louis René Tulasne in the field of mycology...
and Louis Tulasne
Louis René Tulasne
Louis René Tulasne, aka Edmond Tulasne was a French botanist and mycologist who was born in Azay-le-Rideau. He originally studied law at Poitiers, but his interest later turned to botany. As a young man he accompanied botanist Auguste de Saint-Hilaire to South America to study the flora of Brazil...
. In 1756 he resigned from his post at the Mint at Troyes and moved to Paris, living on Rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame.
On 9 September 1758, he was admitted to the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
as a botanist. He occupied several offices at the Academy over the next decades, finally becoming Treasurer in 1788, after the death of his predecessor Buffon
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopedic author.His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier...
.
In 1760 and 1761 he traveled around the Angoumois
Angoumois
Angoumois was a county and province of France, nearly corresponding today to the Charente département. Its capital was Angoulême....
, researching yet another cereal plague together with his friend and fellow agronomist Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau
Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau
Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau , was a French physician, naval engineer and botanist. As a botanist his standard abbreviation is Duhamel...
. The result of this was the book Histoire d'un insecte qui devore les grains de l'Angoumois (History of an Insect that Devours the Grains of the Angoumois, published by H. L. Guérin & L. F. Delatour, Paris, 1762).
In 1766 he was charged with the making of 24 copies of the Toise de l'Academie
Toise
A toise is a unit of measure for length, area and volume originating in pre-revolutionary France. In North America, it was used in colonial French establishments in early New France, French Louisiana , and Quebec...
, the official measuring unit of length in the Kingdom of France, and their distribution to the main French cities of the time.
In 1767 he was appointed Inspector-General of the Mint
Monnaie de Paris
The Monnaie de Paris or, more administratively speaking, the "Direction of Coins and Medals", is an administration of the French government charged with issuing coins as well as producing medals and other similar items. Many ancient coins are housed there...
, a post he held until 1774 when he was succeeded by the Marquis de Condorcet
Marquis de Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet , known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist whose Condorcet method in voting tally selects the candidate who would beat each of the other candidates in a run-off election...
. In 1773 he became a Knight of the Order of Saint Michael
Order of Saint Michael
The Order of Saint Michael was a French chivalric order, founded by Louis XI of France in 1469, in competitive response to the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece founded by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, Louis' chief competitor for the allegiance of the great houses of France, the Dukes of...
.
In 1784 he became the General Administrator of the Salpêtrière
Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital
The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital is a teaching hospital located in Paris, France. Part of the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, it is one of Europe's largest hospitals...
. It was during his administration that the Comtesse de la Motte
Comtesse de la Motte
Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, "Comtesse de la Motte" was a notorious French adventuress and thief; she was married to Nicholas de la Motte whose family's claim to nobility is dubious. She herself was an impoverished descendant of the Valois royal family through an illegitimate son of King Henry II...
was imprisoned there for her participation in the Affair of the diamond necklace
Affair of the diamond necklace
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace was a mysterious incident in the 1780s at the court of Louis XVI of France involving his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. The reputation of the Queen, which was already tarnished by gossip, was ruined by the implication that she had participated in a crime to defraud...
, and escaped.
He was a member of the Metric Commission of the Academy of Sciences, with Jean-Charles de Borda
Jean-Charles de Borda
Jean-Charles, chevalier de Borda was a French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor.-Life history:...
, Joseph Louis Lagrange
Joseph Louis Lagrange
Joseph-Louis Lagrange , born Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia, was a mathematician and astronomer, who was born in Turin, Piedmont, lived part of his life in Prussia and part in France, making significant contributions to all fields of analysis, to number theory, and to classical and celestial mechanics...
, Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the "father of modern chemistry", was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology...
, Marquis de Condorcet
Marquis de Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet , known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist whose Condorcet method in voting tally selects the candidate who would beat each of the other candidates in a run-off election...
, Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace was a French mathematician and astronomer whose work was pivotal to the development of mathematical astronomy and statistics. He summarized and extended the work of his predecessors in his five volume Mécanique Céleste...
and Gaspard Monge
Gaspard Monge
Gaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse was a French mathematician, revolutionary, and was inventor of descriptive geometry. During the French Revolution, he was involved in the complete reorganization of the educational system, founding the École Polytechnique...
, who presented on 19 March 1791, a report to the National Constituent Assembly
National Constituent Assembly
The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
in which the basis for the length of the meter was established. The report rejected the fixing by a pendulum that swings once at the equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
, and defined the length of the meter as 1 ten-millionth of a quarter of a meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...
. The meridian was subsequently measured by Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre and Pierre Méchain
Pierre Méchain
Pierre François André Méchain was a French astronomer and surveyor who, with Charles Messier, was a major contributor to the early study of deep sky objects and comets.-Life:...
Sources
- Alexander Lernet-HoleniaAlexander Lernet-HoleniaAlexander Lernet-Holenia was an Austrian poet, novelist, dramaturgist and writer of screenplays and historical studies who produced a heterogeneous literary opus that included poesy, psychological novels describing the intrusion of otherworldly or unreal experiences into reality, and recreational...
: Das Halsband der Königin (The Queen's Necklace, Paul Zsolnay VerlagPaul Zsolnay Verlag-Overview:The company was created in 1923 by Paul Zsolnay. It was the most successful publishing company during the interregnum period, publishing authors such as John Galsworthy, H.G. Wells, Pearl S. Buck, A.J...
, Hamburg/Vienna, 1962, historical study on the affair of the diamond necklace, with a chapter on the life of Mathieu Tillet, and describing his role in the escape of the Comtesse de la Motte from prison) - http://www.utc.fr/~tthomass/Themes/Unites/Hommes/til/Mathieu%20Tillet.pdf Short bio in French