Editing Gustave Le Bon (section)

== Biography ==
=== Youth ===
Charles-Marie Gustave Le Bon was born in [[Nogent-le-Rotrou]], [[Centre-Val de Loire]] on 7 May 1841 to a family of [[Bretons|Breton]] ancestry. At the time of Le Bon's birth, his mother, Annette Josephine Eugénic Tétiot Desmarlinais, was twenty-six and his father, Jean-Marie Charles Le Bon, was forty-one and a provincial functionary of the French government.<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Adas|title=Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance|publisher=Cornell University Press|date=1990|isbn=9780801497605|page=[https://archive.org/details/machinesasmeasur0000adas/page/195 195]|url=https://archive.org/details/machinesasmeasur0000adas/page/195}}</ref> Le Bon was a direct descendant of Jean-Odet Carnot, whose grandfather, Jean Carnot, had a brother, Denys, from whom the fifth president of the [[French Third Republic]], [[Marie François Sadi Carnot]], was directly descended.<ref name="Widener25">{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=25}}</ref>

When Le Bon was eight years old, his father obtained a new post in French government and the family, including Gustave's younger brother Georges, left Nogent-le-Rotrou never to return. Nonetheless, the town was proud that Gustave Le Bon was born there and later named a street after him.<ref name="Widener25"/> Little else is known of Le Bon's childhood, except for his attendance at a lycée in [[Tours]], where he was an unexceptional student.<ref>{{harvnb|van Ginneken|1992|p=132}}</ref>

In 1860, he began medicinal studies at the [[University of Paris]]. He completed his internship at [[Hôtel-Dieu de Paris]], and received his [[Doctor of Medicine|doctorate]] in 1866. From that time on, he referred to himself as "Doctor" though he never formally worked as a physician. During his university years, Le Bon wrote articles on a range of medical topics, the first of which related to the maladies that plagued those who lived in [[swamp]]-like conditions. He published several other about [[loa loa filariasis]] and [[asphyxia]] before releasing his first full-length book in 1866, ''De la mort apparente et des inhumations prématurées''. This work dealt with the definition of [[death]], preceding 20th-century [[Legal death#Medical declaration|legal debates]] on the issue.<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=26}}</ref>

=== Life in Paris ===
[[File:Gustave Lebon 1.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Gustave Le Bon, {{circa|1870}}]]

After his graduation, Le Bon remained in Paris, where he taught himself [[English language|English]] and [[German language|German]] by reading [[William Shakespeare]]'s works in each language.<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=21}}</ref> He maintained his passion for writing and authored several papers on [[physiology|physiological]] studies, as well as an 1868 textbook about [[sexual reproduction]], before joining the [[French Army]] as a medical officer after the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in July 1870.<ref name="nature">{{cite journal|title=Gustave Le Bon|author=Staff writer(s)|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|date=10 May 1941|volume=147|issue=3732|page=573|doi=10.1038/147573a0 |bibcode=1941Natur.147Q.573.|doi-access=free}}</ref> During the war, Le Bon organised a division of [[military ambulance]]s. In that capacity, he observed the behaviour of the military under the worst possible condition—total defeat, and wrote about his reflections on military discipline, leadership and the behaviour of man in a state of stress and suffering. These reflections garnered praise from generals, and were later studied at [[École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr|Saint-Cyr]] and other military academies in France. At the end of the war, Le Bon was named a ''Chevalier'' of the [[Legion of Honour]].<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=27}}</ref>

Le Bon also witnessed the [[Paris Commune]] of 1871, which deeply affected his worldview. The then thirty-year-old Le Bon looked on as Parisian revolutionary crowds burned down the [[Tuileries Palace]], the library of the [[Louvre]], the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]], the [[Gobelins Manufactory]], the [[Palais de Justice, Paris|Palais de Justice]], and other irreplaceable works of architectural art.<ref name="Widener28">{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=28}}</ref>

From 1871 on, Le Bon was an avowed opponent of [[socialism|socialist]] [[pacifism|pacifists]] and [[protectionism|protectionists]], who he believed were halting France's martial development and stifling her industrial growth; stating in 1913: "Only people with lots of cannons have the right to be pacifists."<ref>{{cite book|first=Gustave|last=Le Bon|title=Aphorismes du temps présent|publisher=Ernest Flammarion|date=1913}}</ref> He also warned his countrymen of the deleterious effects of political rivalries in the face of German military might and rapid industrialisation, and therefore was uninvolved in the [[Dreyfus Affair]] which dichotomised France.<ref name="Widener28"/>

=== Widespread travels ===
[[File:Gustave Le Bon 1880.png|thumb|left|160px|Le Bon in [[Algiers]], 1880]]

Le Bon became interested in the emerging field of [[anthropology]] in the 1870s and travelled throughout [[Europe]], [[Asia]] and [[North Africa]]. Influenced by [[Charles Darwin]], [[Herbert Spencer]] and [[Ernst Haeckel]], Le Bon supported [[biological determinism]] and a hierarchical view of the races and sexes; after extensive field research, he posited a correlation between cranial capacity and intelligence in ''Recherches anatomiques et mathématiques sur les variations de volume du cerveau et sur leurs relations avec l'intelligence'' (1879), which earned him the Godard Prize from the [[French Academy of Sciences]].<ref>{{harvnb|Staum|2011|p=65}}</ref> During his research, he invented a portable [[cephalometry|cephalometer]] to aid with measuring the physical characteristics of remote peoples, and in 1881 published a paper, "''The Pocket Cephalometer, or Compass of Coordinates''", detailing his invention and its application.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Robert|last1=Bud|first2=Deborah Jean|last2=Warner|title=Instruments of Science: An Historical Encyclopedia|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=1998|isbn=9780815315612|page=157}}</ref>

In 1884, he was commissioned by the French government to travel around [[Asia]] and report on the civilisations there.<ref name="nature"/> The results of his journeys were a number of books, and a development in Le Bon's thinking to also view culture to be influenced chiefly by hereditary factors such as the unique racial features of the people.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mehtap|last=Söyler|title=The Turkish Deep State: State Consolidation, Civil-Military Relations and Democracy|publisher=Routledge|date=2015|isbn=9781317668800|page=70}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Partha|last=Mitter|title=Much Maligned Monsters: A History of European Reactions to Indian Art|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=1992|isbn=9780226532394|page=268}}</ref> The first book, entitled ''La Civilisation des Arabes'', was released in 1884. In this, Le Bon praised [[Arabs]] highly for their contributions to civilisation, but criticised [[Islamism]] as an agent of stagnation.<ref>{{cite book|first=Frederick|last=Quinn|title=The Sum of All Heresies: The Image of Islam in Western Thought|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2007|isbn=9780199886760|page=100}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Albert|last=Hourani|title=Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798-1939|url=https://archive.org/details/arabicthoughtinl0000hour|url-access=registration|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1962|isbn=9780521274234|page=[https://archive.org/details/arabicthoughtinl0000hour/page/173 173]}}</ref> He also described their culture as superior to that of the [[Turkish people#Ottoman Empire|Turks]] who governed them, and translations of this work were inspirational to early [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalists]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Sylvia|last=Kedourie|title=Arab Nationalism: An Anthology|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1962|isbn=9780520026452|page=[https://archive.org/details/arabnationalisma0000unse/page/182 182]|url=https://archive.org/details/arabnationalisma0000unse/page/182}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Martin Seth|last=Kramer|title=Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival: The Politics of Ideas in the Middle East|publisher=Transaction Publishers|date=2011|isbn=9781412817394|page=63}}</ref> He followed this with a trip to [[Nepal]], becoming the first Frenchman to visit the country, and released ''Voyage au Népal'' in 1886.<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Carey|title=The Intellectuals and the Masses: Pride and Prejudice Among the Literary Intelligentsia 1880-1939|publisher=Faber & Faber|date=2012|isbn=9780571265107|page=31}}</ref>

He next published ''Les Civilisations de l'Inde'' (1887), in which he applauded Indian architecture, art and religion but argued that Indians were comparatively inferior to Europeans in regard to scientific advancements, and that this had facilitated British domination.<ref>{{cite book|first=Sarah|last=Seymore|title=Close Encounters of the Invasive Kind: Imperial History in Selected British Novels of Alien-Encounter Science Fiction After World War II|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|date=2013|isbn=9783643903914|page=108}}</ref> In 1889, he released ''Les Premières Civilisations de l'Orient'', giving in it an overview of the Mesopotamian, Indian, Chinese and Egyptian civilisations. The same year, he delivered a speech to the International Colonial Congress criticising colonial policies which included attempts of [[cultural assimilation]], stating: "Leave to the natives their customs, their institutions and their laws."<ref>{{harvnb|Betts|1960|p=68}}</ref> Le Bon released the last book on the topic of his travels, entitled ''Les monuments de l'Inde'', in 1893, again praising the architectural achievements of the Indian people.<ref>{{cite book|first=David L.|last=Sills|title=International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences|url=https://archive.org/details/internationalenc08sill|url-access=registration|publisher=Macmillan|date=1968|isbn=9780028661520|page=[https://archive.org/details/internationalenc08sill/page/82 82]}}</ref>

=== Development of theories ===
[[File:Gustave Le Bon V.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Gustave Le Bon on horseback, {{c.|1895}}]]

On his travels, Le Bon travelled largely on horseback and noticed that techniques used by horse breeders and trainers varied dependent on the region. He returned to Paris and in 1892, while riding a high-spirited horse, he was bucked off and narrowly escaped death. He was unsure as to what caused him to be thrown off the horse, and decided to begin a study of what he had done wrong as a rider.<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=14}}</ref> The result of his study was ''L'Équitation actuelle et ses principes. Recherches expérimentales'' (1892), which consisted of numerous photographs of horses in action combined with analysis by Le Bon. This work became a respected cavalry manual, and Le Bon extrapolated his studies on the behaviour of horses to develop theories on [[early childhood education]].<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=15}}</ref>

Le Bon's behavioural study of horses also sparked a long-standing interest in [[psychology]], and in 1894 he released ''Lois psychologiques de l'évolution des peuples''. This work was dedicated to his friend [[Charles Richet]] though it drew much from the theories of [[Théodule-Armand Ribot]], to whom Le Bon dedicated ''[[The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind|Psychologie des Foules]]'' (1895).<ref>{{harvnb|van Ginneken|1992|p=172}}</ref> ''Psychologie des Foules'' was in part a summation of Le Bon's 1881 work, ''L'Homme et les sociétés,'' to which [[Émile Durkheim]] referred in his doctoral dissertation, ''[[The Division of Labour in Society|De la division du travail social]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Who's Afraid of "Dr. Le Bon"?|first=Gerhard|last=Wagner|journal=Sociological Theory|publisher=American Sociological Association|date=November 1993|volume=11|issue=3|pages=321–323|doi=10.2307/201974|jstor=201974}}</ref>

Both were best-sellers, with ''Psychologie des Foules'' being translated into nineteen languages within one year of its appearance.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Stuart|last1=Ewen|first2=Elizabeth|last2=Ewen|title=Typecasting: On the Arts and Sciences of Human Inequality|publisher=Seven Stories Press|date=2011|isbn=9781583229491|page=346}}</ref> Le Bon followed these with two more books on psychology, ''Psychologie du Socialisme'' and ''Psychologie de l'Éducation'', in 1896 and 1902 respectively. These works rankled the largely socialist academic establishment of France.<ref>{{cite book|first=Robert A.|last=Nye|title=An Intellectual Portrait of Gustave Le Bon: A Study of the Development and Impact of the Social Scientist in His Historical Setting|publisher=Xerox University Microfilms|date=1969|page=5}}</ref>

[[File:Gustave Le Bon.jpg|thumb|Gustave Le Bon, {{circa|1900}}]]
Le Bon constructed a home laboratory in the early 1890s, and in 1896 reported observing "black light", a new kind of [[radiation]] that he believed was distinct from, but possibly related to, [[X-ray]]s and [[cathode ray]]s.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mary|last=Nye|title=Gustave Le Bon's Black Light: A Study in Physics and Philosophy in France at the Turn of the Century|date=1974|pages=163–195}}</ref> Not the same type of radiation as what is now known as [[black light]], its existence was never confirmed and, similar to [[N ray]]s, it is now generally understood to be non-existent, but the discovery claim attracted much attention among French scientists at the time, many of whom supported it and Le Bon's general ideas on matter and radiation, and he was even nominated for the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1903.<ref>{{cite book|first=Helge|last=Kragh|title=Quantum Generations: A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century|url=https://archive.org/details/quantumgeneratio0000krag|url-access=registration|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=1999|pages=[https://archive.org/details/quantumgeneratio0000krag/page/11 11–12]|isbn=9780691012063}}</ref>

In 1902, Le Bon began a series of weekly luncheons <!--(''les déjeuners du mercredi'') -->to which he invited prominent intellectuals, nobles and ladies of fashion. The strength of his personal networks is apparent from the guest list: participants included cousins [[Henri Poincaré|Henri]] and [[Raymond Poincaré]], [[Paul Valéry]], [[Alexander Izvolsky]], [[Henri Bergson]], [[Marcellin Berthelot]] and [[Aristide Briand]].<ref>{{harvnb|Betts|1960|p=65}}</ref>

In ''L'Évolution de la Matière'' (1905), Le Bon anticipated the [[mass–energy equivalence]], and in a 1922 letter to [[Albert Einstein]] complained about his lack of recognition. Einstein responded and conceded that a mass–energy equivalence had been proposed before him, but only the [[theory of relativity]] had cogently proved it.<ref>{{cite book|first=Max|last=Jammer|title=Concepts of Mass in Contemporary Physics and Philosophy|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=2009|isbn=9781400823789|page=72}}</ref> [[Gaston Moch]] gave Le Bon credit for anticipating Einstein's theory of relativity.<ref>{{cite book|first=Richard M.|last=Swiderski|title=X-Ray Vision: A Way of Looking|publisher=Universal-Publishers|date=2012|isbn=9781612331089|page=67}}</ref> In ''L'Évolution des Forces'' (1907), Le Bon prophesied the [[Atomic Age]].<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=13}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Maurice|last=Crosland|title=Science Under Control: The French Academy of Sciences 1795-1914|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2002|page=347}}</ref> <!--The major premise of ''L'Évolution de la Matière'' is that matter is an inherently unstable substance and slowly transforms into [[luminiferous aether]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Peter|last1=Galison|first2=Gerald James|last2=Holton|first3=Silvan S.|last3=Schweber|title=Einstein for the 21st Century: His Legacy in Science, Art, and Modern Culture|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=2008|isbn=9780691135205|page=104}}</ref>--> He wrote about "the manifestation of a new force—namely [[Nuclear binding energy|intra-atomic energy]]—which surpasses all others by its colossal magnitude," and stated that a scientist who discovered a way to [[dissociation (chemistry)|dissociate]] rapidly one gram of any metal would "not witness the results of his experiments ... the explosion produced would be so formidable that his laboratory and all neighbouring houses, with their inhabitants, would be instantaneously pulverised."<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=19}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Martin A.|last=Kayman|title=Modernism Of Ezra Pound: The Science Of Poetry|publisher=Springer|date=1986|isbn=9781349182473|page=83}}</ref>

[[File:Portrait of Gustave Le Bon.jpg|thumb|left|Doctor Gustave Le Bon, 1914]]
Le Bon discontinued his research in physics in 1908, and turned again to psychology. He released ''La Psychologie politique et la défense sociale'', ''Les Opinions et les croyances'', ''La Révolution Française et la Psychologie des Révolutions'', ''Aphorismes du temps présent'', and ''La Vie des vérités'' in back-to-back years from 1910 to 1914, expounding in which his views on affective and rational thought, the psychology of race, and the history of civilisation.

=== Later life and death ===
[[File:Gustave Le Bon 1929.jpg|thumb|Le Bon in 1929, aged 88]]
Le Bon continued writing throughout [[World War I]], publishing ''Enseignements Psychologiques de la Guerre Européenne'' (1915), ''Premières conséquences de la guerre: transformation mentale des peuples'' (1916) and ''Hier et demain. Pensées brèves'' (1918) during the war.

He then released ''Psychologie des Temps Nouveaux'' (1920) before resigning from his position as Professor of Psychology and Allied Sciences at the University of Paris and retiring to his home.

He released ''Le Déséquilibre du Monde'', ''Les Incertitudes de l'heure présente'' and ''L'évolution actuelle du monde, illusions et réalités'' in 1923, 1924 and 1927 respectively, giving in them his views of the world during the volatile [[interwar period]].

He became a ''Grand-Croix'' of the Legion of Honour in 1929. He published his last work, entitled ''Bases scientifiques d'une philosophie de l'histoire'', in 1931 and on 13 December, died in [[Marnes-la-Coquette]], [[Île-de-France]] at the age of ninety.<ref>{{cite book|first=J. S.|last=McClelland|title=A History of Western Political Thought|publisher=Routledge|date=2005|isbn=9781134812103|page=660}}</ref>

{{blockquote|In putting an end to the long, diverse and fruitful activity of Gustave Le Bon, death deprived our culture of a truly remarkable man. His was a man of most exceptional intelligence; it sprang entirely from within himself; he was his own master, his own initiator.... Science and philosophy have suffered a cruel loss.<ref>{{cite news|author=Staff writer(s)|title=Gustave Le Bon obituary|publisher=Journal des débats|date=14 December 1931}}</ref>}}