Louis de jaucourt biography of mahatma gandhi in english

Jaucourt was born in Paris, the youngest son of an aristocratic family. The Jaucourt family belonged to the Burgundian peasant nobility and had become Huguenots , and was therefore regarded with suspicion by the powers of Catholic France. As he could not entirely rely on inheritance or status to support himself, Jaucourt became a scholar.

He studied theology in Geneva, natural sciences at the University of Cambridge , and medicine in Leiden. Upon returning to France, he spent the next 20 years writing the Lexicon medicum universale , a six-volume work on anatomy. He sent it to be published in Amsterdam to avoid French censorship but the ship carrying the sole manuscript sank, and 20 years of labour was lost.

He also wrote a biography of Leibniz. He practiced medicine and was a Fellow of the Royal Society in London and member of the academies of Berlin , Stockholm elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in , and Bordeaux. He began modestly, with only a few articles in each of the next several volumes, but gradually became more and more involved.

His contributions come to some 4,, words.

Encyclopédie, Louis chevalier de Jaucourt

By the publication of the eighth volume, Diderot saw fit to thank his collaborator for his tireless dedication to the project, stating:. What has he not done for us, especially in these latter times? With what constancy has he not refused all the solicitations, whether of friendship or of authority, that sought to take him away from us?

Never has sacrifice of repose, of health, of interest been more absolute and more entire. Unlike other editors, Jaucourt was independently wealthy and asked for no payment for his full-time labours.