Description:

Jean-Baptiste Biot
Paris, France, November 18, 1851
Jean-Baptiste Biot ALS Mentioning Auguste Laurent's Laboratory! Two Giants of French Science
ALS
A 3pp autograph letter in French signed by Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774-1862), the influential French astronomer, mathematician, and physicist, as "J. B. Biot" at its conclusion on page 3. November 18, 1851. Paris, France. Inscribed on bifold paper with a blind-embossed mark on the first page. The outer leaf is blank. With a few contemporaneous edits in Biot's hand. Expected wear including flattened paper folds. The outer leaf has a few isolated chipped edges, stains, and a round partially rusted impression. Else near fine and very legible. 6.5" x 8.5." Accompanied by an Auction Certificate from RR Auction (Amherst, New Hampshire), as well as a former collector's notes.

Jean-Baptiste Biot wrote this letter to an unidentified correspondent, possibly a school administrator named "Monsieur Liès." This person had tasked Biot with delivering a wonderful offer to their mutual friend, the brilliant French chemist Auguste Laurent (1807-1853). Biot's correspondent - knowing the poor state of Laurent's health and finances - was offering Laurent the opportunity to send his son Hermann to a special school. [Matthieu Paul Hermann Laurent (1841-1908), whose education is the main topic of this letter, later became a famous French mathematics professor.]

Translated in part:

"Monsieur,

We the city reached; I say 'we' because I associate myself, with all my heart, to your sentiments. I succeeded right away, in taking a detour that would render all objection impossible. I talked to them [Auguste Laurent and his wife, Anne-Françoise Schrobilgen], first about you, recollecting [how] they had seen you in Laurent's laboratory, and how having heard your establishment discussed with such praise by Mr. Sauvage's friends, which was the truth. Then Laurent expanded on the subject of you, confirming the praise, to which his wife joined him with warmth. But when I told them since you want to put Hermann in a boarding school, why don't you place him at Monsieur Liès's, a man who you like, who you esteem, [someone] which you care about. On this point, they admitted that they had thought of this, that they could never find anything better, but that the exigency of their income, rendered this advantage almost impossible. You can see that I enjoyed apprising them of the offer, full of generosity, that you are making them…

Your good deed will have a greater impact, and will be more timely, than you can imagine, without knowing Laurent's true state. He no longer has but a breath, and scarcely suffers. As always happens with this terrible sickness, he himself doesn't feel the danger; and, what is more extraordinary, his wife, who is so tenderly attached to him, doesn't see it either. She was telling me again yesterday that he was much better; and she believes that he will get better. His death will strike, like lightning, this poor family…"

This remarkable letter gives us a very intimate portrait of Auguste Laurent, who fulfilled the worst of Biot's predictions, dying of tuberculosis in his mid-40s about 17 months later, in April 1853. His premature death curtailed an astonishing scientific career. Laurent was one of the creators of atomic notation and anticipated the development of both atomic theory and organic chemistry.

Jean-Baptiste Biot had collaborated with Auguste Laurent when the two studied the properties of artificial alkaloids which Laurent had successfully created from byproducts of coal tar. Biot's contribution to this project was using light and optics to demonstrate how the artificial alkaloids differed from plant-derived alkaloids. After Laurent's death, Biot wrote a glowing preface to Laurent's posthumously published treatise, "Méthodes de Chimie" ["Chemical Methods"] (1854). Biot also lobbied for and eventually secured financial support for Laurent's widow and two young children.

Another "scientist's scientist," Jean-Baptiste Biot made significant advances in the fields of astronomy, magnetism, optics, and electricity. Among the phenomena which he discovered or co-discovered were the Biot-Savart law (relating to magnetism generated by electricity); the Biot number (relating to heat calculations); and optical rotation and circular dichroism (relating to the polarization and absorption of light).

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Provenance: RR Auction Certificate.
  • Dimensions: 6.5" x 8.5"
  • Medium: ALS

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