Editing Gustave Le Bon (section)

=== 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.