Louis Figuier

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Louis Figuier (1819-1894) was a French scientist and writer. He was the nephew of Pierre-Oscar Figuier and became Professor of chemistry at L'Ecole de pharmacie of Montpellier. He became Doctor of Medicine (1841), agrégé of pharmacology, chemistry (1844-1853) and physics and gained his PhD in (1850). Figuier was appointed professor at L'Ecole de Pharmacie of Paris after leaving Montpellier. He undertook research, through which he became opposed to Claude Bernard; but in the face of the conflict that it created, he abandoned his research to devote himself to popular science. He published a yearbook in 1859 - L'Année scientifique et industrielle (or Exposé annuel des travaux) - in which he compiled an inventory of the scientific discoveries of the year. He is the author of numerous successful works: Les Grandes inventions anciennes et modernes (1861), Le Savant du foyer (1862), La Terre avant le déluge (1863), La Terre et les mers (1864), Les Merveilles de la science (1867-1891).

[edit] Main Works

• La terre avant le deluge, 1863
  • English translation, World Before the Deluge, 1867
  • Swedish translation by Carl Hartman, Jorden före syndafloden, 1868, based on the 5th French edition