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Communication dans un congrès Année : 2015

Scientific passion and religious commitment in the Republic of Letters: Nicolas Fatio of Duillier (1664-1753)

Résumé

On August 27th, 1745, Nicolas Fatio of Duillier, 81 years old, wrote those words to his nephew François Calandrin: « While working in the Spiritual to a New World, [the Providence] is turning most of the foundations of the Scientists‘ Astronomical System upside down ; and makes us discover a whole new and more glorious Earth ; and a whole new Sky, of which It gives us a very accurate measurement with yards and feet. » At the end of his life, Fatio was clearly convinced that all the scientific discoveries of his time -and especially mathematics- were directly linked to a providential design. He also thought that he had been chosen by Providence to discover new truths through mathematical demonstrations. Fatio was part of the scientific and intellectual network of the Republic of Letters. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of London and a friend of Isaac Newton. Both shared a passion for alchemy. Fatio also discovered chemical medicine, which he practised on several people and sometimes on himself. He then became the defender, secretary and witness of a group of French fanatics Protestants who had fled to London, trying to escape the Protestants hunt organised in their country. Fatio travelled through Europe until Constantinople with them, writing down their warnings about the End of the world and the coming of God’s judgment. Being back to England after several years, he spent the rest of his life quite isolated, practising at the same time mathematics and calculations, biblical studies and translations from Hebrew to English. His life was shared between various interests and reveals us the porosity that then existed between the world and networks of the new academic European science, and practises as alchemy, medicine and biblical studies, that are today considered as irrational and clearly different from science but were very meaningful and omnipresent at that time.
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Dates et versions

halshs-01243058, version 1 (14-12-2015)

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Paternité - Pas d'utilisation commerciale - Pas de modification - CC BY 4.0

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  • HAL Id : halshs-01243058 , version 1

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Noémie Recous. Scientific passion and religious commitment in the Republic of Letters: Nicolas Fatio of Duillier (1664-1753). Colloque annuel de la Commission Internationale d'Histoire et d'Etude du Christianisme, CISH, Aug 2015, Jinan, China. ⟨halshs-01243058⟩
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