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CONTE

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 25 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CONTE ,, See also:

NICOLAS JACQUES (1755-1805), See also:French See also:mechanical See also:genius, chemist and painter, was See also:born at Aunou-sur-See also:Orne, near See also:Sees, on the 4th of See also:August 1755, of a See also:family of poor See also:farm labourers. At the See also:age of fourteen he displayed precocious See also:artistic See also:talent in a See also:series of religious panels, remarkably See also:fine in See also:colour and See also:composition, for the See also:principal See also:hospital of Sees, where he was employed to help the gardener. With the See also:advice of See also:Greuze he took up portrait See also:painting, quickly became the See also:fashion, and laid by in a few years a See also:fair competency. From that See also:time he gave See also:free See also:rein to his See also:passion for the mechanical arts and scientific studies. He attended the lectures of J. A. C. See also:Charles, L. N. Vaquelin and J. B. Leroy, and exhibited before the See also:Academy of See also:Science an See also:hydraulic See also:machine of his own invention of which the See also:model was the subject of a flattering See also:report, and was placed in Charles's collection.

The events of the Revolution soon gave him an opportunity for a further display of his inventive See also:

faculty. The See also:war with See also:England deprived See also:France of See also:plumbago; he substituted for it an artificial substance obtained from a mixture of See also:graphite and See also:clay, and took out a patent in 1795 for the See also:form of See also:pencil which still bears his name. At this time he was associated with See also:Monge and Berthollet in experiments in connexion with the inflation of military balloons, was conducting the school for that See also:department of the engineer See also:corps at See also:Meudon, was perfecting the methods of producing See also:hydrogen in quantity, and was appointed (1796) by the See also:Directory to the command of all the aerostatic establishments. He was at the See also:head of the newly created See also:Conservatoire See also:des arts et metiers, and occupied himself with experiments in new compositions of permanent See also:colours, and in 1798 constructed a See also:metal-covered See also:barometer for measuring See also:comparative heights, by observing the See also:weight of See also:mercury issuing from the See also:tube. Summoned by See also:Bonaparte to take See also:part as See also:chief of the aerostatic corps in the expedition to See also:Egypt, he considerably extended his See also:field of activity, and for three years and a See also:half was, to quote Berthollet, " the soul of the See also:colony." The disaster of See also:Aboukir and the revolt of See also:Cairo had caused the loss of the greater part of the See also:instruments and munitions taken out by the French. Conte, who, as Monge says, " had every science in his head and every See also:art in his hands," and whom the First See also:Consul described as " See also:good at everything," seemed to be everywhere at once and triumphed over apparently insurmountable difficulties. He made,. in an almost uncivilized See also:country, utensils, tools and machinery of every sort from See also:simple windmills to stamps for minting See also:coin. Thanks to his activity and genius, the expedition was provided with See also:bread, See also:cloth, arms and munitions of war; the See also:engineers with the exact tools of their See also:trade; the surgeons with operating instruments. He made the designs, built the See also:models, organized and supervised the manufacture, and seemed to be able to invent immediately anything required. On his return to France in 18o2 he was commissioned by the See also:minister of the interior, See also:Chaptal, to super-intend the publication of the See also:great See also:work of the See also:commission on Egypt, and an See also:engraving machine of his construction materially shortened this task, which, however, he did not live to see finished. He died at See also:Paris on the bth of See also:December 1805. See also:Napoleon had included him in his first promotions to the See also:Legion of See also:Honour.

A See also:

bronze statue was erected to his memory in 1852 at Sees, by public subscription.

End of Article: CONTE

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