L’expérience enthousiaste d’un savant du XVIIIe siècleLe monde de Nicolas Fatio de Duillier

Abstract

While a mathematician and astronomer, member of the prestigious Royal Society of London, Nicolas Fatio de Duillier was also a staunch defender of the French Prophets, a little group of Huguenots who fled from persecutions and went to London, at the beginning of the 18th century. We can dive into Fatio’s scientific and religious experiences, which appear to be strictly connected, thanks to a wide correspondence and many papers carefully saved in Geneva. The idea of “experience” allows us to study his practices together with discourses, and individual and collective scales. Fatio was a supporter of natural theology, as were many of his contemporaries, especially in Great Britain. He developed a global worldview driven by Providence, by mixing his very deep knowledge of the Scriptures with astronomic observations, and modern and ancient texts. In his works, Providence became the leaven of Men’s history, natural phenomena and punctual events altogether. Discoveries were seen as manifest action of God’s will. For Fatio, it also became a way to write about himself, to endorse a destiny as both man and scientist, despite a public acknowledgement that never truly came.

Keywords

• Newton
• Astronomy
• French Prophets
• Heterodoxy
• Science