Editing Joseph Jacotot (section)

==Life==
Jacotot was born at [[Dijon]] on 4 March 1770. He was educated at the university of Dijon, where in his nineteenth year he was made a professor of [[Latin]], after which he studied law, became a lawyer, and at the same time devoted a large amount of his attention to mathematics.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Jacotot, Joseph|volume=15|pages=121–122}}</ref>

In 1788 he organized a federation of the youth of Dijon for the defence of the principles of the [[French Revolution|Revolution]]; and in 1792, with the rank of captain, he set out to take part in the [[Campaigns of 1792 in the French Revolutionary Wars|campaign of Belgium]], where he conducted himself with bravery and distinction. After filling the office of secretary of the ''commission d’organisation du mouvement des armées'', in 1794 he became deputy of the director of the [[École Polytechnique]].  Upon the founding of the central schools at Dijon he was appointed to the chair of the "method" or instruction of science.  There he made his first experiments in his "emancipatory" method of teaching. When the central schools were replaced by other educational institutions, Jacotot occupied the chairs of mathematics and of Roman law until the overthrow of the empire. In 1815 he was elected a representative to the chamber of deputies; but after the [[Second Restoration]] he found it necessary to quit his native land.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Having taken up his residence at [[Brussels]], in 1818 Jacotot was nominated teacher of the French language at the [[State University of Leuven|University of Louvain]], where he systematized the educational principles which he had already practised successfully in France.<ref name="EB1911"/>