Jacques Besson

Infobox_Scientist
name = Jacques Besson
birth_date = 1540?
birth_place = Briançon, France
death_date = 1573
death_place = England
last residence =
nationality = French
religion = Protestant
field = Engineering, Mathematics, Instrumentation

Jacques Besson (1540? - 1573) was a French Protestant inventor, mathematician, and philosopher, chiefly remembered for his popular treatise on machines "Theatrum Instrumentorum" (1571-72), which saw many reprints in different languages.

Life

Little information has survived about Besson's early life; he described himself as being from Colombières, near Briançon.cite book | last = Keller | first = Alex | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = A Theatre of Machines | publisher = Macmillan | date = 1965 | location = | pages = p. 7 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ] He was most likely born around 1540.cite journal | last = Davis | first = Natalie Zemon | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Protestantism of Jacques Besson | journal = Technology and Culture | volume = 7 | issue = 4 | pages = p. 513 | publisher = John Hopkins University Press | location = | date = Autumn 1966 | url = | doi = | id = | accessdate = ] In the early 1550s he is recorded as teaching mathematics in Paris, following which the next account of him dates from April 1557, when he is recorded in the minutes of the town council of Lausanne, Switzerland, as being paid for models of pumps and fountains.

In 1559 he published his first treatise in Zurich, the "De absoluta ratione extrahendi olea et aquas e medicamentis simplicibus" (on the complete doctrine of extracting oils and waters from simple drugs), featuring an introduction by Conrad Gesner. That same year he moved to Geneva where in 1561 he requested permission to become a citizen of Geneva. His entry in Geneva's "Livre de Bourgeois" notes that citizenship was awarded as a result of his services "in teaching the art and science of mathematics"

In 1562 Besson became the pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Villeneuve-de-Berg, France, Olivier de Serres having sent a request to the Company of Pastors for a minister. However, less than two years later he was forced out by a rival. [Keller, p. 32] By 1565 he was back in Paris, where in 1567 he published his second treatise, "Le Cosmolabe", which described an elaborate instrument based on the astrolabe which could be used for navigation, surveying, cartography, and astronomy. "Le Cosmolabe" also introduced a number of mechanical inventions that he hoped to describe in more detail in a future work. Besson was described as a professor of mathematics from Orléans.

Theatrum Instrumentorum

When King Charles IX of France made a royal visit to Orléans in 1569, Besson presented to the King a draft of his new treatise, what was to become the "Theatrum Instrumentorum". and returned with him to Paris as "master of the King's Engines". Charles gave Besson exclusive rights to his designs in that same year. While employed by the court, Besson also created an ingenious screw-cutting lathe that was semi-automatic, in that the operator only needed to pull and release a cord. [cite book | last = Woodbury | first = Robert S. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Studies in the History of Machine Tools | publisher = MIT Press | date = 1972 | location = | pages = p. 54 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0262730332]

Besson's "Theatrum Instrumentorum" (Theater of Machines), was completed and published in 1571 or 1572. It was a unique work; previously, works on engineering and technology such as Valturio's "De re militari" (1472), Biringuccio's "Pirotechnia" (1540) and Agricola's "De re metallica" (1556), had had only limited descriptions of new inventions or recounted inventions of the past without much detail. In contrast, Besson's work was a collection of his own new inventions with detailed illustrations of each engraved by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau to his specifications. Some of his designs suggested important improvements to lathes and the waterwheel. The Latin captions to the highly detailed drawings were sparse, however, which would seem to indicate that the text was probably produced in a hurry. Even the title page does not give the name of the printer or the date of publication. The rush in publishing the book may have been due to the crackdown on French Protestants that culminated in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572. [Keller, p. 7]

Although Besson was favoured by King Charles IX, he feared the increasing anti-Protestant sentiment in France, and emigrated to England shortly after the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572, where he died in 1573. [cite journal | last = Battison | first = Edwin A. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Stone-Cutting and Polishing Lathe, by Jacques Besson. | journal = Technology and Culture | volume = 7 | issue = 2 | pages = pp. 202-205 | publisher = John Hopkins University Press | location = | date = Spring 1966 | url = | doi = | id = | accessdate = ]

The "Theatrum Instrumentorum" had proved so popular that a second edition appeared in 1578, with more detailed descriptions of the instruments and machines by François Béroalde de Verville. The copper plates from the original edition were reused, except for four which were replaced by new engravings produced by René Boyvin.

ee also

*St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

Notes

References

* http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/HST/Besson/besson.htm
* http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9078938/Jacques-Besson
* http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/HST/Besson/besson-introduction.htm
* http://libcoll.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/elib/rara/YD9NH338 (another digitized version)
* Errard, Jean. Le premier livre des instruments mathématiques méchaniques... Nancy, 1584.
* Ramelli, Agostino. Le diverse et artificiose machine... Paris, 1588 (copy in SIL, along with seven of the original drawings).
* Bachot, Ambroise. Le govvernail... Lequel conduira le curieux de geometrie en perspectiue dedans l'architecture de fortifications, machine de guerre & plusieurs autres particularitez y contenues. Melun, 1598.
* Boillot, Joseph. Modelles, artifices de feu et divers instrumens de guerre avec les moyens de s'en prévaloir... Chaumont-en-Bassigny, 1598.
* Zonca, Vittorio. Novo teatro di machine et edificii per uarie et sicure operationi... Padua, 1607 (copy in SIL).
* Zeising, Heinrich. Theatri machinarvm... Leipzig, 1607-? (copy in SIL, plates only; SIL also has 1708 edition).
* Branca, Giovanni. Le machine... Rome, 1629 (copy in SIL).
* Böckler, Georg Andreas. Theatrum machinarum novum... Nuremberg, 1661 (SIL has 1673 and 1686 editions).
* Grollier de Servière, Gaspard. Recueil d'ouvrages curieux de mathematique et de mecanique... Lyon, 1719 (copy in SIL along with 1751 edition).