Editing Firmin Abauzit

{{Short description|French-Genevan scholar (1679–1767)}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Firmin Abauzit
|image             = Firmin-Abauzit.jpg
|birth_date        = {{birth date|1679|11|11|df=y}}
|birth_place       = [[Uzès]], [[Kingdom of France]]
|death_date        = {{death date and age|1767|3|20|1679|11|11|df=y}}
|death_place       = [[Geneva]], [[Republic of Geneva]]
|residence         =
|citizenship       = [[Republic of Geneva]]
|nationality       = [[France|French]]
|ethnicity         =
|field             = {{ubl|[[Physics]]|[[Theology]]|[[Philosophy]]}}
|work_institutions =
|alma_mater        =
|doctoral_advisor  =
|doctoral_students =
|known_for         = Proofreading or correcting the writings of [[Isaac Newton]]
|author_abbrev_bot =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences        =
|influenced        =
|prizes            =
|religion          =
|footnotes         =
|signature         =
}}

'''Firmin Abauzit''' (11 November 1679{{snd}}20 March 1767) was a French scholar who worked on [[physics]], [[theology]] and [[philosophy]], and served as librarian in [[Geneva]] ([[Republic of Geneva]]) during his final 40 years. Abauzit is also notable for proofreading or correcting the writings of [[Isaac Newton]] and other scholars.

==Biography==
Firmin Abauzit was born of [[Huguenot]] parents on 11 November 1679 at [[Uzès]], in [[Languedoc]].<ref name="eb">{{harvnb|Hoiberg|2010|p=8}}</ref><ref name="cam">{{harvnb|Magnusson|Goring|1990|p=1}}</ref> His paternal family traces its origin to an Arab physician who settled in [[Toulouse]] during the 9th century.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f5VUAAAAYAAJ&q=abauzit+arab&pg=PA37 | title=The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge--| year=1842}}</ref> Accordingly, the name “Abauzit” is liked derived from the Arabic “Abu Zaid” (father of Zaid).

His father died when he was only two years of age; and when, on the revocation of the [[Edict of Nantes]] in 1685, the authorities took steps to have him educated in the [[Roman Catholic]] faith, his mother contrived his escape.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

For two years his brother and he lived as fugitives in the mountains of the [[Cévennes]], but they at last reached [[Geneva]], where their mother afterwards joined them on escaping from the imprisonment in which she was held from the time of their flight. Abauzit at an early age acquired great proficiency in languages, physics, and theology.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In 1698, he traveled to [[Germany]], then to [[Dutch Republic|Holland]],<ref name="cam" /> where he became acquainted with [[Pierre Bayle]],<ref name="eb" /> [[Pierre Jurieu]] and [[Jacques Basnage]]. Proceeding to [[England]], he was introduced to Sir [[Isaac Newton]], who found in him one of the earliest defenders of his discoveries against [[Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre|Castel]].<ref name="eb" /><ref name="ww" /> Newton corrected in the second edition of his ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica|Principia]]'' an error pointed out by Abauzit,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref name="ww" /> and, when sending him the ''Commercium Epistolicum,'' said, "You are well worthy to judge between [[Gottfried Leibniz|Leibnitz]] and me."{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

The reputation of Abauzit induced [[William III of England|William III]] to request him to settle in [[England]], but he did not accept the king's offer, preferring to return to [[Geneva]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref name="ww" />
There from 1715 he rendered valuable assistance to a society that had been formed for translating the [[New Testament]] into [[French language|French]]. He declined the offer of the chair of philosophy at the [[University of Geneva]] in 1723.<ref name="eb" /> He assisted in the French language [[New Testament]] in 1726.<ref name="eb" /> In 1727, he was granted citizenship in Geneva, and he accepted the office of honorary librarian to Geneva, the city of his adoption.<ref name="eb" /> It was while he was in Geneva in his later years that he authored many of his works. He died in Geneva at the age of 87, on 20 March 1767.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Legacy==
Abauzit was a man of great learning and of wonderful versatility. Whatever chanced to be discussed, it used to be said of Abauzit that he seemed to have made it a subject of particular study. [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]], who was jealously sparing of his praises, addressed to him, in his ''[[Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse]]'', a fine [[panegyric]]; and when a stranger flatteringly told [[Voltaire]] he had come to see a great man, the philosopher asked him if he had seen Abauzit.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Among his acquaintances, Abauzit claimed Rousseau, Voltaire, Newton, and Bayle.<ref name="ww">{{harvnb|Debus|Calinger|Collins|Kennedy|1968|p=1}}</ref>

Little remains of the labours of this intellectual giant, his heirs having, it is said, destroyed the papers that came into their possession, because their own religious opinions were different. A few theological, archaeological, and astronomical articles from his pen appeared in the ''Journal helvétique'' and elsewhere, and he contributed several papers to Rousseau's ''Dictionnaire de musique'' (1767). He wrote a work throwing doubt on the [[Biblical canon|canonical]] authority of the [[Apocalypse]], which called forth a reply from Dr [[Leonard Twells]], and was published in [[Denis Diderot]]'s ''[[Encyclopédie]]''. He also edited and made valuable additions to [[Jacob Spon]]'s ''Histoire de la république de Genève''. A collection of his writings was published at Geneva in 1770 (''Œuvres de feu M. Abauzit''), and another at [[London]] in 1773 (''Œuvres diverses de M. Abauzit'').{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

===Works===
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Works of Abauzit
! year!! Title !! Notes
|-
| || Articles || Multiple articles for ''[[Journal helvétique]]''
|-
| 1726|| French language New Testament || Collaboration<ref name="eb" />
|-
| || ''apocalypse'' || Article for [[Denis Diderot]]'s ''[[Encyclopédie]]''<ref name="eb" />
|-
| 1767 || Articles || Multiple articles for ''[[Dictionnaire de musique]]''
|-
| || Edited and contributions || ''[[Histoire de la république de Genève]]'' by Jacob Spon
|-
| 1770 || ''Œuvres de feu M. Abauzit'' || Posthumously published collection
|-
| 1773 || ''Œuvres diverses de M. Abauzit'' || Posthumously published collection
|-
|}

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite encyclopedia | editor1-last = Debus | editor1-first = Allen G. | editor2-last = Calinger | editor2-first = Ronald S. | editor3-last = Collins | editor3-first = Edward J. | editor4-last = Kennedy | editor4-first = Stephen J. | encyclopedia = World Who's Who in Science: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Scientists From Antiquity to the Present | publisher = The A. N. Marquis Company | location = Chicago, Illinois | year = 1968 | isbn = 0-8379-1001-3 | lccn = 68056149 | title = Abauzit, Firmin | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/worldwhoswhoinsc0000unse }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | editor-last = Hoiberg | editor-first = Dale H. | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | title = Abauzit, Firmin | edition = 15th | year = 2010 | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. | volume = I: A-Ak - Bayes | location = Chicago, Illinois | isbn = 978-1-59339-837-8 | lccn = 2002113989 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | editor1-last = Magnusson | editor1-first = Magnus | editor2-last = Goring | editor2-first = Rosemary | title = Cambridge Biographical Dictionary | isbn = 0-521-39518-6 | year = 1990 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge, UK }}

;Attribution
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Abauzit, Firmin|volume=1|page=8}}
* {{cite book | last = Senebier | first = Jean | author-link = Jean Senebier | title = Histoire Littéraire de Geneve | url = https://archive.org/details/histoirelittra01sene | year = 1786 | location = Geneve [Geneva, Switzerland] | publisher = Chez Barde, Manget & Compagnie, Imprimeurs-Libraires | lccn = 04021025 }}
* {{cite book | last = Abauzit | first = Firmin | translator = Edward Harwood | translator-link = Edward Harwood | title = Miscellanies of the Late Ingenious and Celebrated M. Abauzit on Historical, Theological, and Critical Subjects | year = 1774 | location = London, England | publisher = T. Becket | lccn = 82067547 }}
* {{cite book | last = Orme | first = William | author-link = William Orme (minister) | title = Bibliotheca biblica; a select list of books on sacred literature; with notices biographical, critical, and bibliographical | url = https://archive.org/details/01039971.1226.emory.edu | year = 1824 | publisher = A. Black | location = Edinburgh, Scotland | lccn = 07020498 }}

==External links==
*[http://www.cblibrary.org/schaff_h/aa/abauzit.htm ''Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge''], Abauzit, Firmin.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abauzit, Firmin}}
[[Category:1679 births]]
[[Category:1767 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Uzès]]
[[Category:18th-century French philosophers]]
[[Category:18th-century physicists from the Republic of Geneva]]
[[Category:18th-century French physicists]]
[[Category:French Calvinist and Reformed theologians]]
[[Category:Scholars from the Republic of Geneva]]
[[Category:18th-century French writers]]
[[Category:18th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:18th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians]]
[[Category:18th-century writers from the Republic of Geneva]]
[[Category:18th-century French Christian theologians]]
[[Category:Calvinist and Reformed philosophers]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Enlightenment philosophers]]
[[Category:Age of Enlightenment]]