HAÜY, RENÉ-JUST. - Priest, b. at St-Just (Oise) on 28 Feb. 1743, d. at Paris on 3 June 1822. A distinguished crystallographer and mineralogist, he is to be regarded as one of the founders of crystallography.
Educated at the Collège de Navarre, where he later became a professor, he there embraced the ecclesiastical career. He occupied himself at first with the natural sciences in general, then, initiated by the mineralogist Daubenton, he devoted himself entirely to mineralogy. From 1783 he was a member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1794 he received the appointment as curator of the Museum of Mines, and in 1802 he was professor of mineralogy at the Museum, where he succeeded Dolomieu. Finally he was professor of mineralogy at the University of Paris from its foundation.
He owes his fame to the fundamental law of rational truncations, or of rational indices, which he discovered and which derives its name from him, and to his theory on the structure of crystals published in 1783 (v. CRISTALLI).
A man of rare virtue, even amid the highest honors he knew how to remain the modest and pious priest, scrupulously observant of the smallest religious duties (Cuvier).
Bibliography3 worksP. Groth, Entwicklungsgeschichte der Mineralogischen Wissenschaften, Berlin 1926; G. Cuvier, Recueil des éloges historiques, lus dans les sé
BIBL.: P. Groth, Entwicklungsgeschichte der Mineralogischen Wissenschaften, Berlin 1926; G. Cuvier, Recueil des éloges historiques, lus dans les séances publiques de l'Institut royal de France, III, Paris 1827, pp. 123-75; C. L. Kneller, Il cristianesimo e i naturalisti moderni, Italian trans., Brescia 1906, pp. 325-33.
Fornaseri, Mario. “Haüy, rené-just.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, coll. 1376–1377. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/hauy-rene-just.
MLA
Fornaseri, Mario. “Haüy, rené-just.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, coll. 1376–1377. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/hauy-rene-just.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec6_hauy_rene_just,
author = {Fornaseri, Mario},
title = {Haüy, rené-just},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VI},
pages = {1376--1377},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/hauy-rene-just}
}
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