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Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle
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==Biography== Fontenelle was born in [[Rouen]], France (then the capital of [[Normandy]]) and died in Paris at age 99. His mother was the sister of great French dramatists [[Pierre Corneille|Pierre]] and [[Thomas Corneille]]. His father, François le Bovier de Fontenelle, was a lawyer who worked in the provincial court of Rouen and came from a family of lawyers from Alençon.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Fontenelle biography|url = http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Fontenelle.html|website = www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk|access-date = 2016-02-08}}</ref> He trained in the law but gave up after one case, devoting his life to writing about [[philosophers]] and scientists, especially defending the [[René Descartes|Cartesian]] tradition.<ref name="MadameGeoffrin">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/madamegeoffrinh00aldigoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/madamegeoffrinh00aldigoog/page/n52 26] |quote=Fontenelle Madame Helvetius. |title=''Madame Geoffrin'' by Janet Aldis |via=[[Internet Archive]] |year=1905 |publisher=G. P. Putnam's sons |access-date=16 August 2012}}</ref> In spite of the undoubted merit and value of his writings, both to the laity and the scientific community, there is no question of his being a primary contributor to the field. He was a commentator and explicator and occasionally a passionate, though generally good-humoured, controversialist.<ref name="GF">Grégoire François. Le dernier défenseur des tourbillons : Fontenelle.. In: Revue d'histoire des sciences et de leurs applications, tome 7, n°3, 1954. pp. 220-246. doi : 10.3406/rhs.1954.3438 http://www.persee.fr/doc/rhs_0048-7996_1954_num_7_3_343 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005143410/http://www.persee.fr/doc/rhs_0048-7996_1954_num_7_3_343 |date=5 October 2018 }}</ref> He was educated at the college of the [[Jesuits]], the ''[[Lycée Pierre Corneille (Rouen)|Lycée Pierre Corneille]]'' (although it did not adopt the name of his uncle (Pierre Corneille) until 1873, about 200 years later).<ref name="LyCo6">{{cite web |url=http://lgcorneille-lyc.spip.ac-rouen.fr/spip.php?article6 |title=Lycée Pierre Corneille de Rouen – History |publisher=Lgcorneille-lyc.spip.ac-rouen.fr |date=19 April 1944 |access-date=16 August 2012}}</ref> At the Lycée he showed a preference for literature and distinguished himself. According to Bernard de Fontenelle, [[François Blondel]] was a disciple of Father [[Marin Mersenne]] at the ''Academia Parisiensis'' in the French capital, until 1649. There he met "Messieurs [[Pierre Gassendi|Gassendi]], [[Descartes]], [[Thomas Hobbes|Hobbes]], [[Gilles de Roberval|Roberval]], and the two Pascals, [[Étienne Pascal|father]] and [[Blaise Pascal|son]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://architectura.cesr.univ-tours.fr/traite/Notice/ENSBA_LES1835.asp?param=en|title=Resolution des quatre principaux problemes d'architecture|language=English, French|website=[[University of Tours]]|access-date=May 2, 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160422122809/http://architectura.cesr.univ-tours.fr/traite/Notice/ENSBA_LES1835.asp?param=|archive-date=22 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
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