science · 28 February 1683 · 341 years ago
birth
Born 28 Feb 1683; died 17 Oct 1757 at age 74.
René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur was a French entomologist and physicist, who was active in various fields, a distinguished entomologist, and appointed by King Louis XIV (1710) to inventory French natural and industrial resources. His name is applied to a thermometric scale he defined. In 1720, he built the first cupola furnace, for economically melting gray iron. He also improved techniques for making iron and steel. By study of Chinese porcelain, he created his own Réaumur porcelain (1740). In biology, he noted the ability of crayfish to regenerate lost limbs. Between 1734 and 1742, Réaumur wrote six volumes of Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des insectes (Memoirs Serving as a Natural History of Insects). Although unfinished, this work was a lasting contribution to entomology. In 1752, he isolated gastric juice and investigated how it acted in food digestion.
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