The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 forced a six-year-old Firmin Abauzit to flee the Roman Catholic authorities in Uzès. Accompanied by his brother, he lived as a fugitive in the Cévennes mountains before eventually finding sanctuary in Geneva, where he spent his later years operating as a scholar and honorary librarian.
Early Education and Exile
Born in 1679 to Huguenot parents, Abauzit lost his father at age two. After escaping persecution in France, he arrived in the Republic of Geneva, where he received a comprehensive education in theology, physics, and linguistics. By 1698, he had begun traveling through Germany and Holland, establishing connections with prominent intellectuals like Pierre Bayle, Pierre Jurieu, and Jacques Basnage.
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During a trip to England, Abauzit met Isaac Newton. He emerged as a defender of Newton's work against critics such as Castel. His mathematical competence impressed Newton, who incorporated corrections suggested by Abauzit into the second edition of the Principia. Newton also requested that Abauzit act as an arbiter between himself and Leibniz regarding the Commercium Epistolicum.
Academic Contributions in Geneva
Returning to Geneva, Abauzit declined a chair of philosophy at the local university in 1723. He opted instead to serve as the city's honorary librarian starting in 1727, the same year he gained citizenship. His work included contributing to the 1726 French language New Testament and editing Jacob Spon's Histoire de la république de Genève. Late in life, he provided entries for Rousseau's 1767 Dictionnaire de musique.
Scholarly Legacy
Abauzit's body of work included articles on archaeology, astronomy, and theology, such as his critical examination of the Apocalypse. While his heirs destroyed many of his private papers due to religious disagreements, his writings were later compiled and published in Geneva in 1770 and London in 1773. His intellect was recognized by figures including Voltaire and Rousseau.
Fast facts
- Born: 11 November 1679, Uzès
- Died: 20 March 1767, Geneva
- Citizenship: Kingdom of France, Republic of Geneva
- Occupations: writer, physicist, theologian, philosopher
- Language: French
- Religion: Protestantism
Questions readers ask
What was Abauzit's connection to Isaac Newton?
Abauzit was an early defender of Newton's discoveries and provided mathematical corrections that Newton included in the second edition of the Principia.
Why does so little of his original work remain?
It is reported that his heirs destroyed his personal papers after his death because their own religious convictions differed from his.
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