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For the #printerSolstice2425 prompt oxygen: my #linocut of Claudine Picardet (1735-1820) #chemist, #mineralogist, meteorologist & perhaps most importantly, translator of latest science from Swedish, English, German, Italian & possibly Latin to French at the height of the chemical revolution.
She married barrister & member of the Académie royale des sciences, arts, et belles-lettres de Dijon, Claude Picardet in 1755, her entry into 🧵
the high society scientific bourgeoisie. She attended lectures, demos & became involved as a scientist, translator & host of her own salon. After son died in 1776 & Claude died in 1796 she moved to Paris & married her longtime scientific collaborator & friend Guyton de Morveau, deputy of Council of five hundred & director & chem professor at École Polytechnic. She continued her work & salon in Paris.
Her translation work was part of the Bureau de traduction de Dijon which required 🧵2/n
her to maintain extensive contacts abroad, know latest science & perform experiments & examine minerals to confirm results in translated texts. The other members were all male academics; none as prolific, translated from as many languages nor published in Annales de Chimie, like her. She also was a prominent contributor to Journal de physique.
She published 1st translated volume of chemical essays of Scheele, 1 of the discoverers of oxygen, from Swedish & German & brought his work on oxygen 🧵3
to the attention of French scientists. She translated Werner’s 1774 mineralogy text, expanding & annotating to degree it is considered a new ed. She translated Kirwan’s papers & may have contributed to Mme Lavoisier’s 1787 translation of his Essay on Phlogiston. She even invented French scientific terms to capture Werner’s neologisms.
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From 1786 to 1787, Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Bethollet & Fourcroy met near daily to modernize chemical nomenclature, creating definitive names with rules like simple substances should have simple names & compounds should have compound names designating their parts. A 19th century painting of them notably includes both Picardet & Mme Lavoisier who deserve to be remembered.
https://minouette.etsy.com/listing/1856856615
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