Pasteur : sous le savant l’artiste

Abstract

As a school boy, Pasteur tried his hand at pastel and lithography with real talent. This largely ignored trait of the scientist did not propel him into an artistic career but certainly helped to develop gifts for observation and precision, which the chemist later took the most of in his scientific work. In particular these talents led him to one of his capital discoveries, the chirality of chemical compounds. Conversely, he later instilled his knowledge of chemistry to students of the School of Fine Arts, as part of their architecture and art courses.

Keywords

• Pasteur
• Pastels
• Lithographie
• Chiralité
• Beaux-arts
• Cristallographie