Home > Jean-Baptiste Elie de Beaumont

Elie de Beaumont was born at Canon, in Calvados. He was educated at the Lycee Henri IV where he took the first prize in mathematics and physics; at the Ecole Polytechnique, where he stood first at the exit examination in 1819; and at the Ecole des Mines ( 1819- 1822), where he began to show a decided preference for the science with which his name is associated. In 1823 he was selected along with Dufrénoy by Brochant de VilliersAndre-Jean-Francois-Marie Brochant de Villiers ( August 6, 1772 May 16, 1840) was a French mineralogist and geologist. He was born at Villiers, near Nantes. After studying at the Ecole Polytechnique, he was in 1794 the first pupil admitted to the Ecole de, the professor of geology in the Ecole des Mines, to accompany him on a scientific tour to EnglandEngland is the largest, the most populous, and the most densely populated of the four " Home Nations" which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). Occupying the south-eastern portion of the island of Great Britain, England and ScotlandScotland or in Scottish Gaelic, Alba is a country and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom. Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Scotland took part in a p, in order to inspect the mining and metallurgical establishments of the country, and to study the principles on which George GreenoughGeorge Bellas Greenough ( January 18, 1778 April 2, 1855) was an English geologist. Greenough was born in London. He was educated at Eton, and afterwards (1795) entered Pembroke College, Oxford, but never graduated. In 1798 he proceeded to Gottingen to pr's geological map of England (1820) had been prepared, with a view to the construction of a similar map of France.

In 1835Events January 1 Ole Pedersen Hoiland breaks into the Bank of Norway and steals 64. 000 dalers January 7 HMS Beagle anchors off the Chonos Archipelago. January 30 Unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Andrew Jackson in the United States Cap he was appointed professor of geology at the Ecole des Mines, in succession to Brochant de Villiers, whose assistant he had been in the duties of the chair since 1827. He held the office of engineer-in-chief of mines in France from 1833 until 1847, when he was appointed inspector-general; and in 1861 he became vice-president of the Conseil-General des Mines and a grand officer of the Legion of Honour. His growing scientific reputation secured his election to the membership of the Academy of Berlin , of the French Academy of Sciences and of the Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London is claimed to be the oldest learned society still in existence and was founded in 1660. The Royal Irish Academy, founded in 1782, is also closely affiliated with it. The Royal Society of Edinburgh (founded 1783) is a separate S of London. By a decree of the president he was made a senator of France in 1852, and on the death of François Arago in 1853 he was chosen perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences.

Elie de Beaumont's name is widely known to geologists in connection with his theory of the origin of mountain ranges, first propounded in a paper read to the Academy of Sciences in 1829, and afterwards elaborated in his Notice sur le systeme des montagnes (3 volumes, 1852). According to his view, all mountain ranges parallel to the same great circle of the earth are of strictly contemporaneous origin, and between the great circles a relation of symmetry exists in the form of a pentagonal réseau. An elaborate statement and criticism of the theory was given in his anniversary address to the Geological Society of London in 1853 by William Hopkins. The theory did not find general acceptance, but it proved of great value to geological science, owing to the extensive additions to the knowledge of the structure of mountain ranges which its author made in endeavouring to find facts to support it.

Probably, however, the best service Elie de Beaumont rendered to science was in connection with the geological map of France, in the preparation of which he had the leading share. During this period Elie de Beaumont published many important memoirs on the geology of the country. After his superannuation at the Ecole des Mines he continued to superintend the issue of the detailed maps almost until his death, which occurred at Canon. His academic lectures for 1843-1844 were published in 2 volumes, (1845 - 1849), under the title Leçons de Géologie pratique.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica