Abstract
ON February 28 occurs the bicentenary of René-Just Haüy, recognized everywhere as the founder of ' the science of crystallography. Born in the small town of St. Just, in the Department of Oise, he was the son of a weaver, but in spite of his poor circumstances gained admission to the College of Navarre, in Paris, and at the age of twenty began to teach there. Led to the study of minerals through an accident with a crystal of calcareous spar, he discovered the law of crystallization, and became widely known thereby. In 1783, at the age of forty, he was elected to the Academy of Sciences, and in the following year he published his “Essay in the Structure of Crystals”, the first of his various books. He was deprived of his posts at the Revolution, and for a short time imprisoned ; but after the fall of Robespierre, he took his place among his scientific peers, being given a chair in the short-lived Normal School, and a seat in the Institute. He was also made keeper of the mineralogical collections at the School of Mines and secretary to the Commission of Weights and Measures. In 1802 he became professor of mineralogy in the Natural History Museum, where his lectures attracted large audiences. His numerous memoirs are to be found in the periodicals of the time. He continued to lecture to an advanced age, and died in Paris on June 3, 1822. His collections and his statue are in the galleries at the Museum, and on November 8, 1903, a monument to him and his brother, Valentin Haüy (1745-1822), a pioneer in work for the blind, was unveiled at St. Just, when a discourse was pronounced by Lacroix. The American Mineralogist (No. 6, 3, 1919) contains a series of articles on aspects of Haüy's life and works and includes a number of portraits.
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René-Just Haüy (1743–1822). Nature 151, 247 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151247c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151247c0