Georges Fournier (Jesuit)

The Couronne. Frontispiece of Hydrographie by Georges Fournier, 1643.

Georges Fournier (31 August 1595 – 13 April 1652) was a French Jesuit priest, geographer and mathematician.

Biography

Fournier served as a naval military chaplain on a ship of the line,^[1] and acquired a strong knowledge of technical and naval matters.

In 1642, he published the treaty Hydrographie, where he attempted to provide a scientific foundation to the design of ships.^[2][3] At the time, results like Couronne or HMS Sovereign of the Seas were obtained by empirical trials and errors.

He also authored a Treaty of fortifications or military architecture, drawn from the most estimated places of our times, for fortifications,^[4] whose original edition was published in Paris in 1648 by Jean Hénault at the Salle Dauphine of l'ange gardien. Another edition was published in 1668 in Mayence by Louis Bourgeat.^[5]

Georges Fournier taught René Descartes.

Notes and references

1. Notice d'autorité de la Bibliothèque nationale de France.
2. Acessible en ligne sur le site European Cultural Heritage Online
3. Bertrand Gille, Histoire des techniques.
4. Voir bibliographie et traité en ligne sur le site Architectura du Centre d'études supérieures de la Renaissance à Tours.
5. Bibliothèque municipale de Mayence, collection Rara III i 30 ba.

Bibliography

• Georges Fournier, Hydrographie, contenant la théorie et la practique de toutes les parties de la navigation..., Paris, chez Soly, 1643. BNF 304555507
• Bertrand Gille (dir.), Histoire des techniques, Gallimard, coll. « La Pléiade », 1978. ISBN 978-2-07-010881-7