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PREVOST, PIERRE (1751-1839)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 312 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PREVOST, See also:PIERRE (1751-1839) , Swiss philosopher and physicist, son of a See also:Protestant clergyman in See also:Geneva, was See also:born in that See also:city on the 3rd of See also:March 1751, and was educated for a clerical career. But he forsook it for See also:law, and this too he quickly deserted to devote himself to See also:education and to travelling. He became intimate with J. J. See also:Rousseau, and, a little later, with Dugald See also:Stewart, having previously distinguished himself as a translator of and commentator on See also:Euripides. See also:Frederick II. of See also:Prussia secured him in 178o as See also:professor of See also:philosophy, and made him member of the Akademie der Wissenschaften in See also:Berlin. He there became acquainted with See also:Lagrange, and was thus led to turn his See also:attention to See also:physical See also:science. After some years spent on See also:political See also:economy and on the principles of the See also:fine arts (in connexion with which he wrote, for the Berlin See also:Memoirs, a remarkable dissertation on See also:poetry) he returned to Geneva and began his See also:work on See also:magnetism and on See also:heat. Interrupted occasionally in his studies by political duties, in which he was often called to the front, he remained professor of philosophy at Geneva till he was called in 18ro to the See also:chair of physics. He died at Geneva on the 8th of See also:April 1839. Prevost published much on See also:philology, philosophy, and political economy; but he will be remembered mainly for having published, with additions of his own, the Traite de physique of G. L.

Le See also:

Sage, and for his enunciation of the law of See also:exchange in See also:radiation. His scientific publications included De l'Origine See also:des forces magnetiques (1788), Recherches physico-mecaniques sur la chaleur (1792), and Essai sur le calorique rayonnant (1809). PREVOST-PARADOL, LUCIEN ANATOLE (1829-1870), See also:French See also:man of letters, was born in See also:Paris on the 8th of See also:August 1829. He was educated at the See also:College See also:Bourbon and entered the Ecole Normale. In 1855 he was appointed professor of French literature at See also:Aix. He held the See also:post, however, barely a See also:year, re-See also:signing it to become a See also:leader-writer on the See also:Journal des Mats. He also wrote in the Courrier du dimanche, and for a very See also:short See also:time in the Presse. His See also:chief See also:works are Essais de politique et de litteralure (three See also:series, 1859-1866), and Essais sur See also:les moralistes See also:francais (1864). He was, however, rather a journalist than a writer of books, and was one of the chief opponents of the See also:empire on the See also:side of moderate liberalism. He underwent the usual difficulties of a journalist under that regime, and was once imprisoned. In 1865 he was elected an Academician. The ac-cession of Emile 011ivier to See also:power was fatal to Prevost-Paradol, who apparently believed in the possibility of a liberal empire, and consequently accepted the See also:appointment of See also:envoy to the See also:United States.

This was the See also:

signal for the most unmeasured attacks on him from the republican party. He had scarcely installed himself in his post before the outbreak of See also:war between See also:France and Prussia occurred. He shot himself at See also:Washington on the , rth of See also:July 187o, and died on the loth.

End of Article: PREVOST, PIERRE (1751-1839)

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