Abstract
ON May 16 occurs the centenary of the death of the French geologist and mineralogist Brochant de Villiers, through whose initiative the construction of a complete geological chart of France was undertaken. Born at the Chateau de Villiers, near Mantes, on August 6, 1772, he was educated under the Oratoriens and acquired a taste for natural history. When nineteen, he went to Freiburg, in Germany, to study under Werner, by whom he was much influenced. In 1793, when the Revolutionary movement in France was at its height, he entered the iScole des Ponts et Chaussoes and afterwards the iScole des Mines. In 1804, when the ficole des Mines had been removed to Pezay, in Savoy, Brochant de Villiers was made professor of geology and mineralogy, and he held this post for some years after the return of the school to Paris in 1815. He also became an inspector-general of mines and a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences.
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André-Jean Marie Brochant De Villiers (1772–1840). Nature 145, 736 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145736a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145736a0