BÉRAUD, LAURENT. – French Jesuit, b. in Lyon on 5 March 1702; he entered the novitiate in 1717 and distinguished himself in the teaching of mathematics, especially in Lyon, where he was also director of the observatory of the Collège de la Trinité and custodian of its medal collections. He left France in 1762, returned there after the suppression of the Society, and d. in Lyon on 28 June 1777.
He published good astronomical observations or dissertations in various collections (Mémoires de Trévoux, etc.); another, on the cause of electricity, was printed by the Imperial Academy of St Petersburg in 1755 and reprinted in Italy two years later; several others remained unpublished.
BIBL.: Sommervogel, I, cols. 1318–22. Edmondo Lamalle