Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle

Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle was born on 11 February 1657 in Rouen; his mother was the sister of Pierre and Thomas Corneille. A pupil of the Jesuits, he studied law but left the bar after a single case. His beginnings in the theatre were a failure; he made his name with the Nouveaux Dialogues des morts in 1683, then with the Histoire des oracles. Elected to the Académie française in 1691, he was from 1697, for more than forty years, permanent secretary of the Académie des sciences. He died in Paris on 9 January 1757, a month short of his hundredth birthday.

In the catalogue 1

• EssayConversations on the Plurality of WorldsEntretiens sur la pluralité des mondesBernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle · 1686LiteraturePublic domain