{{Short description|Genevan scientific journalist (1752–1825)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Use British English|date=March 2022}} {{Infobox person | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|size=100%|FRS|FRSE}} | image = Marc-Auguste Pictet - 1752-1825.jpg | caption = Portrait by [[Firmin Massot]], 1809 | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1752|7|23}} | birth_place = [[Geneva]], [[Republic of Geneva]] | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1825|4|19|1752|7|23}} | death_place = Geneva, Switzerland | alma_mater = [[University of Geneva|Academy of Geneva]] | known_for = [[Pictet's experiment]] | spouse = {{marriage|Susanne Francoise Turrettini|1766}} | children = 3 | family = [[Pictet family]] | awards = [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1791)<br>[[Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh|FRSE]] (1796) }} '''Marc-Auguste Pictet''' {{post-nominals|FRS|FRSE}} ({{IPA|fr|piktɛ|lang}}; 23 July 1752 – 19 April 1825) was a Genevan [[Science journalism|scientific journalist]] and experimental [[Natural philosophy|natural philosopher]].

Pictet's main contribution to learning was his editing of the scientific section of the ''[[Bibliothèque Britannique]]'' (1796–1815), a publication devoted to the diffusion on the [[Continental Europe|Continent]] of knowledge and arts produced in [[Great Britain]]. His own scientific research focused on the fields of [[physical science]], especially [[calorimetry]], but also [[astronomy]],<ref>The lunar crater [[Pictet (crater)|Pictet]] was named in his honour.</ref> [[geology]], [[meteorology]] and technology, especially [[chronometry]] and the manufacture of fine earthenware.<ref>René Sigrist & Didier Grange, ''La faïencerie des Pâquis. Histoire d'une expérience industrielle, 1786-1796'', Genève, Passé-Présent, 1995.</ref>

==Life== He was born in [[Geneva]], [[Republic of Geneva]] on 23 July 1752, the son of Charles Pictet, a military officer serving in the [[Dutch States Army|mercenary troops]] of the [[Dutch Republic|Netherlands]], and his wife, Marie Dunant.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=2017-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Marc-Auguste studied natural philosophy and [[law]] at the [[University of Geneva#History|Academy of Geneva]] and qualified as a lawyer in 1774.<ref>Jean-Daniel Candaux, ''Histoire de la famille Pictet 1474-1974'', Genève, Braillardexper, 1974, {{p.|271}}.</ref> After one year in England (1775–76), he became assistant to [[Jacques-André Mallet]] at the [[Geneva Observatory]] and took an interest in [[meteorology]] and [[Cartography|map-making]]. In 1778, he made his first trip around the [[Mont-Blanc]] with his master [[Horace-Bénédict de Saussure]]. In 1786, he would succeed him as professor of natural philosophy at the Academy of Geneva.<ref>Jean-Daniel Candaux, ''Histoire de la famille Pictet, 1474-1974'', Genève, Braillard, 1974</ref>

By this time, he had assisted Saussure with an experiment that demonstrated the existence of what would later be called [[infra-red radiation]]. In a follow-up experiment, named '[[Pictet's experiment]]' by [[Count Rumford]], Pictet discovered that by focusing the radiation from a flask of ice onto a thermometer using two concave mirrors, the effects of [[cold]] could be reflected in the same way as the effects of [[heat]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=James |last2=Popp |first2=Brian |title=Pictet's experiment: The apparent radiation and reflection of cold |journal=American Journal of Physics |date=1985 |volume=53 |issue=8 |pages=737–753 |doi=10.1119/1.14305 |bibcode=1985AmJPh..53..737E |url=http://webspace.pugetsound.edu/facultypages/jcevans/Pictet's%20experiment.pdf}}</ref> The result of his experiments on heat was published in 1790 as ''Essai sur le feu'' (English translation: ''An Essay on Fire'', 1791). At this time he had already converted to [[Lavoisier]]'s [[Traité Élémentaire de Chimie|ideas on chemistry]].

In 1791, Pictet was one of the twelve founding members of the {{Interlanguage link multi|Geneva Society of Physics and Natural History|fr|Société_de_physique_et_d%27histoire_naturelle_de_Genève}}. In 1796, he, his younger brother [[Charles Pictet de Rochemont|Charles]], and his friend [[Frédéric-Guillaume Maurice]] began editing a monthly periodical entitled ''Bibliothèque Britannique'', which carried translations of significant scientific papers published in English by scholars such as [[Humphry Davy|Davy]], [[Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet|Hall]], Herschel, [[John Leslie (physicist)|Leslie]], [[John Playfair|Playfair]], Rumford and [[William Hyde Wollaston|Wollaston]]. In addition to scientific and technical topics, the journal published extracts of British literature and articles on agriculture.<ref>David M. Bickerton, Marc-Auguste and Charles Pictet, the "Bibliothèque Britannique" (1796-1815) and the dissemination of British literature and science on the Continent, Geneva, Slatkine, 1986.</ref> After 1815, this periodical included other European materials (mainly French, German and Italian) and took from then on the name of ''[[Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève]]''.

As the second director of the Geneva Observatory (1790–1819), Pictet oversaw the installation of a [[meteorological station]]. In 1817, he established an additional station on [[Great St. Bernard]] mountain in the [[Alps]].

In 1815, the year Geneva adhered to the [[Swiss Confederation]], Pictet, {{Interlanguage link|Henri-Albert Gosse|fr}} and {{Interlanguage link multi|Jakob Samuel Wyttenbach|de}} were the main agents in the creation of the {{Interlanguage link multi|Swiss Society of Natural Sciences|fr|Académie_suisse_des_sciences_naturelles}}.

Pictet was a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of London]] from 1791,<ref>[https://royalsociety.org/-/media/Royal_Society_Content/about-us/fellowship/Fellows1660-2019.pdf ''List of Fellows of the Royal Society 1660–2019.''] [[Royal Society]], May 11, 2022 (PDF; 1,4&nbsp;MB).</ref> a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] from 1796,<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=2017-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}</ref> an ''"associé libre"'' of the [[Académie des Sciences]] from 1802,<ref>''[https://www.academie-sciences.fr/en/Liste-des-membres-depuis-la-creation-de-l-Academie-des-sciences/les-membres-du-passe-dont-le-nom-commence-par-p.html List of past members (last name starting with "P")] of the [[Académie des Sciences]]''</ref> and a member of the [[Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities]] from 1808.<ref>Membership entry of [https://badw.de/data/footer-navigation/personentreffer.html?tx_badwdb_badwperson%5Bper_id%5D=2380&tx_badwdb_badwperson%5BpartialType%5D=BADWPersonDetailsPartial&tx_badwdb_badwperson%5BmemberType%5D=&tx_badwdb_badwperson%5Baction%5D=show&tx_badwdb_badwpers Marc-Auguste Pictet] at the [[Bavarian Academy of Sciences]], retrieved May 11, 2022.</ref> His expertise, relationships and correspondence network included hundreds of scholars,<ref>René Sigrist (ed.), ''Marc-Auguste Pictet, Correspondence : sciences et techniques'', Geneva, Slatkine, 1996-2004 (4 vols).</ref> extending throughout Western Europe and as far as the United States. In a letter to President [[George Washington]] in 1795, [[Thomas Jefferson]] wrote that he saw Pictet and his colleagues (including Saussure and [[Jean Senebier|Senebrier]]) as ''"standing foremost among the literati of Europe"''.<ref>Isaac Benguigui, ''Genève et ses savants : physiciens, mathématiciens et chimistes aux XVIII<sup>e</sup> et XIX<sup>e</sup> siècles'', Genève, Slatkine, 2006, {{p.|79}}.</ref><ref>“To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 23 February 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-17-02-0380. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 17, 1 October 1794–31 March 1795, ed. David R. Hoth and Carol S. Ebel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, pp. 564–569.]</ref>

==Legacy==

Since 1990, the Geneva Society of Physics and Natural History has offered a yearly award in history of science called the {{Interlanguage link multi|Marc-Auguste Pictet Prize|fr|Prix_Marc-Auguste-Pictet}}. It also awards a yearly medal to "a scholar whose work is recognized as an authority in the history of science". Winners are chosen by a panel of [[University of Geneva]] professors and field experts.

The lunar crater [[Pictet (crater)|Pictet]] was named in his honour in 1935 by astronomers [[Mary Adela Blagg|Blagg]] and [[Karl Müller (astronomer)|Müller]].<ref>{{gpn|4724}}</ref>

==Family==

In 1766, he married Susanne Francoise Turrettini (1757–1811). The couple had three daughters: Dorothée Marie Anne (1777–1841), who married the [[Council of States (Switzerland)|Swiss Councillor of State]] {{Interlanguage link multi|Isaac Vernet|fr|Isaac_Vernet_(personnalité_politique)}}, Caroline (1780–1841) and Albertine (1785–1834).<ref>''Généalogie de la famille Pictet de Genève, Descendants de Pierre Pictet reçu bourgeois le 14 octobre 1474'', Genève, Fondation des archives de la famille Pictet, 2010.</ref>

==See also== * Jean Rilliet, Jean Cassaigneau, Marc-Auguste Pictet ou le rendez-vous de l’Europe universelle, 1752–1825, Genève, Slatkine, 1995 ({{ISBN|9782051013475}}) (OCLC 36520875) 784 p. * Jean-Daniel Candaux, Histoire de la famille Pictet 1474–1974, Genève, Braillard, 1974.

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{HDS|43034}} * [http://www.unige.ch/sphn Geneva Society of Physics and Natural History] * [http://www.archivesfamillepictet.ch/ Pictet Family Archives] {{in lang|fr}} * [https://www.unige.ch/sphn/Prixetbourses/MAP/Pictet.php Marc-Auguste Pictet Prize] * Pictet, Marc-Auguste (1791). [https://archive.org/details/b28760888 "An Essay on Fire"]. English translation: W.B., M.D *[[List of works by James Pradier#Miscellaneous|List of works by James Pradier]] {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pictet, Marc-Auguste}} [[Category:18th-century physicists from the Republic of Geneva]] [[Category:19th-century physicists from the Republic of Geneva]] [[Category:Meteorologists from the Republic of Geneva]] [[Category:Swiss meteorologists]] [[Category:Swiss physicists]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:1752 births]] [[Category:1825 deaths]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]] [[Category:Pictet family|Marc-Auguste]]