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CONDAMINE, Charles Marie de la, French
geographer, born in Paris, 28 January, 1701; died there, 4 February, 1774. He
was educated at the University of Paris, entered the army in 1719, and was
distinguished at the siege of Rosas, but abandoned military life to join an
expedition whose object was to explore the coasts of Asia and Africa.
He visited the Troad, Cyprus, Jerusalem, and
Constantinople, and in 1735, with Bouguer and others, was sent to Peru by the
Academy of sciences to measure an arc of the meridian. While in South America he
also made observations on the use of caoutchouc (natural rubber) by the natives,
and to him is ascribed the introduction of the article into Europe; and he also
tried to introduce into France inoculation for small-pox. He was the first to
discover that the deflection of a plumb-line by the attraction of a mountain is
a measurable quantity. He was made a fellow of the Royal society of London in
1748, and a member of the French academy in the year 1760.
He published treatises on geography, natural history,
and physics, and had some reputation as a writer of verses. His
works include "Relation abrregée d'un voyage fait dans l'interieur de l'Amerique
Meridionale" (Paris, 1745), and "La figure de la terre determinée par les
observations de MM. de la Condamine et Bouguer" (1749). See Condorcet's "Eloge
de la Condamine."
Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, by John Looby Copyright © 2001
StanKlos.comTM
CONDAMINE, Charles Marie de la, French geographer, born in Paris, 28 January, 1701 ; died there, 4 February, 1774. He was educated at the University of Paris, entered the army in 1719, and was distinguished at the siege of Rosas, but abandoned military life to join an expedition whose object was to explore the coasts of Asia and Africa. He visited the Troad, Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, and in 1735, with Bouguer and others, was sent to Peru by the Academy of sciences to measure an arc of the meridian. While in South America he also made observations on the use of caoutchouc by the natives, and to him is ascribed the introduction of the article into Europe; and he also tried to introduce into France inoculation for small-pox. He was the first to discover that the deflection of a plumb-line by the attraction of a mountain is a measurable quantity. He was made a fellow of the Royal society of London in 1748, and a member of the French academy in the year 1760. He published treatises on geography, natural history, and physics, and had some reputation as a writer of verses. His works include "Relation abrregee d'un voyage fair dans l'interieur de l'Amerique Meridionale" (Paris, 1745), and " La figure de la terre determinee par les observations de MM. de la Condamine et Bouguer" (1749). See Condorcet's "Eloge de la Condamine."
