Editing Jean-André Deluc (section)

== Biography ==
Jean-André Deluc was born in [[Geneva]]. His family had come to the [[Republic of Geneva]] from [[Lucca]], Italy, in the 15th century.<ref name=lucques/> His mother was Françoise Huaut. His father, Jacques-François Deluc,<ref name=Sigrist/> had written in refutation of [[Bernard Mandeville]] and other rationalistic writers, but he was also a decided supporter of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.<ref name=letterByRousseau/>

As a student of [[Georges-Louis Le Sage]], Jean-André Deluc received a basic education in mathematics and in natural philosophy. He engaged early in business, which occupied a large part of his first adult years, with the exception of scientific investigation in the Alps. With the help of his brother Guillaume-Antoine, he built a splendid collection of [[mineralogy]] and [[fossils]].<ref>René Sigrist, "Collecting nature's medals", in John Heilbron & René Sigrist (eds), ''Jean-André Deluc. Historian of Earth and Man'', Geneva, Slatkine, 2011, p. 105-146.</ref><ref name=museum/>

Deluc also took part in politics. In 1768, sent on an embassy to the [[Étienne François, duc de Choiseul|duc de Choiseul]] in Paris, he succeeded in gaining the duke's friendship. In 1770 he became a member of the [[Council of Two Hundred]] in Geneva.

Three years later, business reverses forced him to leave his native town; he returned, briefly, only once. The change freed him for non-scientific pursuits; with little regret he moved to Great Britain in 1773, where he was appointed reader to [[Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz|Queen Charlotte]], a position he held for forty-four years and that afforded him both leisure and income.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=975–976}}

Despite his duties at court, he was given leave to make several tours of Switzerland, France, Holland and Germany. At the beginning of his German tour (1798–1804), he was distinguished with an honorary professorship of philosophy and geology at the [[University of Göttingen]], which helped to cover diplomatic missions for the king George III. Back to Britain, he undertook a geological tour of the country (1804–1807).<ref name=Michaud/>{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=976}}

In 1773 Deluc was made a [[fellow of the Royal Society]]; he was a correspondent of the [[French Academy of Sciences]] and a member of several other [[learned society|learned societies]]. He died at [[Windsor, Berkshire]], England, in 1817, after nearly 70 years of research. [[Deluc (crater)|Deluc]], an [[impact crater]] on the Moon, was given his name.