Nicolas Sarrabat
Encyclopedia
Fr. Nicolas Sarrabat or Sarabat (February 7, 1698 – April 27, 1739), also known as Nicolas Sarrabat de la Baisse, was an eighteenth-century French
mathematician and scientist. He was born in Lyon
, the son of the painter Daniel Sarrabat (1666–1748), and the nephew of engraver Isaac Sarrabat. The Sarrabats had been a prosperous Protestant bourgeois family of clock- and watchmaker
s, though Nicolas's father had converted to Catholicism
.
Sarrabat showed a love of learning from an early age. He was said to have started his studies without his parents' knowledge; they only became aware of them when Nicolas submitted and defended a thesis at the Lyon Collège de la Trinité in the presence of his father, who had been tricked into attending. He went on to enter the Jesuit order, and was employed as the Royal Professor of Mathematics at Marseille
.
In 1730, he published the Dissertation sur les causes et les variations des vents, which sought to explain wind patterns by the action of the Sun on the atmosphere. His most famous experiments involved immersing the roots of living plants in the red juice of Phytolacca berries in order to observe circulation. As the Academy, mainly to stop Sarrabat's presence discouraging other authors, had ruled that an author could not win the same prize three times, he submitted this work, Sur la circulation de la sève des plantes, under the pseudonym "Monsieur de la Baisse", but eventually confessed his true identity. The plant genus Baissea is named after him - or rather after his pseudonym - in honour of this work.
In 1735-36 Sarrabat travelled with the Chevalier de Caylus - a ship's captain and the brother of the Comte de Caylus - through the Mediterranean on an archeological excursion to the island of Milos
and to Malta
, describing his experiences in a series of excited and spirited letters to the Marquis de Caumont. Though Caylus came from a famously Jansenist family, the Jesuit Sarrabat struck up a great friendship with him, describing him as "un très aimable homme". Caylus and Sarrabat walked into the interior of Milos, discovering and partly unearthing a series of ancient ruins very close to where the Venus de Milo
was discovered many years later.
, and is remembered in the field for having discovered an unusual comet
, the Comet of 1729 (Comet Sarabat): it is thought to have been the largest, with the greatest absolute magnitude
, on record. Sarrabat discovered the comet without the aid of a telescope, though he was initially unsure if it was in fact a detached part of the Milky Way
. In astronomical literature his name is often spelt "Sarabat", following the spelling used by Jacques Cassini
, who made further observations of the same comet.
A colleague remembered him as "tall, with a countenance that showed the passion of the loftiness of his thought, and with a very gentle manner".
Sarrabat died in 1739 while visiting Paris
on official business, or according to some sources, while seeking treatment for a liver ailment.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
mathematician and scientist. He was born in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, the son of the painter Daniel Sarrabat (1666–1748), and the nephew of engraver Isaac Sarrabat. The Sarrabats had been a prosperous Protestant bourgeois family of clock- and watchmaker
Watchmaker
A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since virtually all watches are now factory made, most modern watchmakers solely repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their parts, by hand...
s, though Nicolas's father had converted to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
.
Sarrabat showed a love of learning from an early age. He was said to have started his studies without his parents' knowledge; they only became aware of them when Nicolas submitted and defended a thesis at the Lyon Collège de la Trinité in the presence of his father, who had been tricked into attending. He went on to enter the Jesuit order, and was employed as the Royal Professor of Mathematics at Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
.
Scientific papers
Sarrabat's scientific interests seem to have been very varied, and the Academie Royale des Belles-lettres, Sciences et Arts de Bordeaux awarded him several prizes for his work: one was for an essay on magnetism, the Nouvelle hypothèse sur les variations de l'aiguille aimantee, which argued that a spherical fire at the Earth's core was the driving force behind the expulsion of magnetic matter.In 1730, he published the Dissertation sur les causes et les variations des vents, which sought to explain wind patterns by the action of the Sun on the atmosphere. His most famous experiments involved immersing the roots of living plants in the red juice of Phytolacca berries in order to observe circulation. As the Academy, mainly to stop Sarrabat's presence discouraging other authors, had ruled that an author could not win the same prize three times, he submitted this work, Sur la circulation de la sève des plantes, under the pseudonym "Monsieur de la Baisse", but eventually confessed his true identity. The plant genus Baissea is named after him - or rather after his pseudonym - in honour of this work.
In 1735-36 Sarrabat travelled with the Chevalier de Caylus - a ship's captain and the brother of the Comte de Caylus - through the Mediterranean on an archeological excursion to the island of Milos
Milos
Milos , is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete...
and to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, describing his experiences in a series of excited and spirited letters to the Marquis de Caumont. Though Caylus came from a famously Jansenist family, the Jesuit Sarrabat struck up a great friendship with him, describing him as "un très aimable homme". Caylus and Sarrabat walked into the interior of Milos, discovering and partly unearthing a series of ancient ruins very close to where the Venus de Milo
Venus de Milo
Aphrodite of Milos , better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created at some time between 130 and 100 BC, it is believed to depict Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love and beauty. It is a marble sculpture, slightly...
was discovered many years later.
Astronomy
Sarrabat also had an interest in astronomyAstronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, and is remembered in the field for having discovered an unusual comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
, the Comet of 1729 (Comet Sarabat): it is thought to have been the largest, with the greatest absolute magnitude
Absolute magnitude
Absolute magnitude is the measure of a celestial object's intrinsic brightness. it is also the apparent magnitude a star would have if it were 32.6 light years away from Earth...
, on record. Sarrabat discovered the comet without the aid of a telescope, though he was initially unsure if it was in fact a detached part of the Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
. In astronomical literature his name is often spelt "Sarabat", following the spelling used by Jacques Cassini
Jacques Cassini
Jacques Cassini was a French astronomer, son of the famous Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini.Cassini was born at the Paris Observatory. Admitted at the age of seventeen to membership of the French Academy of Sciences, he was elected in 1696 a fellow of the Royal Society of London, and...
, who made further observations of the same comet.
A colleague remembered him as "tall, with a countenance that showed the passion of the loftiness of his thought, and with a very gentle manner".
Sarrabat died in 1739 while visiting Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on official business, or according to some sources, while seeking treatment for a liver ailment.