Grosse Lexika und Wörterbücher Europas: europäische Enzyklopädien und Wörterbücher in historischen Porträts.Textes réunis sous la direction de Ulrike Hass, Berlin,Walter de Gruyter, 2012, 533 p.

Outre une préface d’Ulrike Hass, ce volume renferme vingt-sixchapitres, chacun consacré au « portrait » de l’un des plus importantsouvrages de référence de l’histoire moderne ; il s’agit surtout de dictionnaires,mais aussi d’encyclopédies et même de deux thésaurus. Puisquecertains chapitres traitent en même temps de deux titres apparentés, etpuisque certains titres s’appliquent à toute une série de réimpressions oud’éditions, le nombre de titres examinés atteint une trentaine, et lenombre d’é..

Grosse Lexika und Wörterbücher Europas: europäische Enzyklopädien und Wörterbücher in historischen Porträts.Textes réunis sous la direction de Ulrike Hass, Berlin,Walter de Gruyter, 2012, 533 p.

Outre une préface d’Ulrike Hass, ce volume renferme vingt-sixchapitres, chacun consacré au « portrait » de l’un des plus importantsouvrages de référence de l’histoire moderne ; il s’agit surtout de dictionnaires,mais aussi d’encyclopédies et même de deux thésaurus. Puisquecertains chapitres traitent en même temps de deux titres apparentés, etpuisque certains titres s’appliquent à toute une série de réimpressions oud’éditions, le nombre de titres examinés atteint une trentaine, et lenombre d’é..

La vie agitée de l’abbé De Gua de Malves et sa direction de l’Encyclopédie

Cet article présente la vie de Jean-Paul de Gua De Malves et les rapports de celui-ci avec l’Encyclopédie. Savant et mathématicien, De Gua devint membre de l’Académie royale des sciences et professeur au Collège royal de France peu après la trentaine, mais impulsif, querelleur et dépourvu d’esprit pratique, il démissionna bientôt des deux institutions. Aujourd’hui il est mieux connu comme premier directeur de l’Encyclopédie, fonction qu’il occupa pendant quelque treize mois en 1746 et 1747. Selon nous, son influence sur l’Encyclopédie ne fut pas grande et la suggestion de Condorcet, selon laquelle De Gua aurait conçu les grandes lignes de l’Encyclopédie sans pouvoir participer à son « exécution », ne peut être retenue. On peut certes reconnaître l’influence possible de deux idées de De Gua sur l’Encyclopédie, à savoir celle d’une encyclopédie écrite par des « spécialistes » et celle d’une encyclopédie faisant la part belle sur les arts mécaniques, mais ces idées ne lui étaient pas propres et leur réalisation pratique dans l’Encyclopédie, loin d’être engagée en 1747 ou même en 1751, fut l’un des accomplissements majeurs de Diderot, de D’Alembert et de leurs collaborateursThe Busy Life of abbé De Gua De Malves and his Direction of the EncyclopédieThis article deals with the life of Jean-Paul De Gua De Malves and his relationship with the Encyclopédie. Du Gua, who was a scholar and a mathematician, became in his earlythirties a member of the Académie royale des sciences and professor at the Collègeroyal de France, but as he was impulsive, quarrelsome and completely unpractical, hesoon resigned from both institutions. Today he is better known as the first director of theEncyclopédie, for thirteen months from 1746 to 1747. In our opinion, his influence on theEncyclopédie was not very great and Condorcet’s suggestion that De Gua laid down themain principles of the work without being able to take part in their application is notcredible. We can see a possible influence of two of De Gua’s ideas, namely that of anencyclopaedia written by “specialists” and emphasizing mechanical arts. But these ideas were not specifically his, and their application, far from being underway by 1747, or even 1751, was one of the major achievements of Diderot, D’Alembert and their collaborator

Diderot et Laurent Durand, son éditeur principal

Quoique peu connu, Laurent Durand (1712-1763) fut l’un des libraires français les plus importants du dix-huitième siècle. Il fut en outre l’éditeur principal de Diderot, responsable de la publication de plusieurs des ouvrages clandestins les plus notoires de celui-ci. Les rapports professionnels compliqués entre les deux hommes constituent l’objet de cet article. Entre autres choses, nous essayons d’expliquer le brusque affaiblissement de leurs relations commerciales après 1749 et de préciser l’engagement de Durand – mytérieusement tiède par rapport à celui de ses trois associés Briasson, David, et Le Breton - dans la publication de l’Encyclopédie.Diderot and his main publisher Laurent DurandAlthough little known, Laurent Durand (1712-1763) was one of the most important book-sellers of eighteenth-century France. He was also Diderot’s primary publisher, responsible for the publication of several of the latter’s most notorious clandestine works. The complex professional ties between the two men constitute the focus of this article. Among other things, we attempt to explain why their commercial relationship abruptly declined after 1749 and to clarify Durand’s involvement in the publication of the Encyclopédie, which was curiously weak compared with that of his three co-publishers Briasson, David, and Le Breton

L’Admiration d’Adam Smith pour l’Encyclopédie

Cet article traite des rapports, surtout d’admiration, du philosophe et économiste écossais Adam Smith avec l’Encyclopédie. Dans un premier temps, nous nous concentrons sur la recension élogieuse de l’Encyclopédie par Smith pour l’Edinburgh Review de 1755-1756. On en vient ensuite à son achat de l’Encyclopédie et de certains textes apparentés, soit pour la bibliothèque de l’université de Glasgow, soit pour sa propre bibliothèque. Enfin, nous analysons des références à l’Encyclopédie dans l’oeuvre de Smith. En éclairant la carrière intellectuelle de Smith, cette étude offre un regard nouveau sur les Lumières françaises et sur la réception de l’Encyclopédie à l’étrangerAdam Smith’s Admiration for the EncyclopédieThis article discusses the relationship (above all admiration) of the Scottish philosopher and economist Adam Smith, and Diderot and D’Alembert’s Encyclopédie. It first concentrates on the very favourable review of the work that Smith wrote for the Edinburgh Review in 1756-7; then it discusses his acquisition of the volumes of the Encyclopédie and certain associated texts for both Glasgow University Library and his own personal library; finally we analyse references to the work in Smith’s writings. We thus hope, in addition to throwing light on Smith’s intellectual career, to provide a new understanding of the French Enlightenment and the foreign reception of the Encyclopédi

André-François Le Breton, initiateur et libraire en chef de l’Encyclopédie

Dans cet article, nous proposons en premier lieu une actualisation de l’article sur Le Breton publié par l’un de nous, Frank Kafker, dans Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture en 1976. En même temps, tout en nous concentrant sur l’engagement de Le Breton dans l’Encyclopédie, nous situons ses réalisations dans un contexte plus large. En particulier, nous le comparons aux autres libraires associés de l’Encyclopédie et aux autres libraires de son époque afin de faire ressortir sa spécificité en tant qu’homme d’affaires.The aim of this article is first of all to update the article on Le Breton published by one of the authors (Frank Kafker) in Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture in 1976. At the same time, while concentrating on Le Breton’s involvement in the Encyclopédie, we situate his activity in a wider context. We compare him in particular to the other booksellers associated with the Encyclopédie and with other contemporary booksellers in order to bring out what made him different as a businessman

Progress Towards a 2012 Landsat Launch

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is on schedule for a December 2012 launch date. The mission is being managed by an interagency partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). NASA leads the development and launch of the satellite observatory while leads ground system development. USGS will assume responsibility for operating the satellite and for collecting, archiving, and distributing the LDCM data following launch. When launched the satellite will carry two sensors into orbit. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) will collect data for nine shortwave spectral bands with a spatial resolution of 30 m (with a 15 m panchromatic band). The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) will coincidently collect data for two thermal infrared bands with a spatial resolution of 100 m. The OLI is fully assembled and tested and has been shipped by it?s manufacturer, Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation, to the Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) facility where it is being integrated onto the LDCM spacecraft. Pre-launch testing indicates that OLI will meet all performance specification with margin. TIRS is in development at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and is in final testing before shipping to the Orbital facility in January, 2012. The ground data processing system is in development at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. The presentation will describe the LDCM satellite system, provide the status of system development, and present prelaunch performance data for OLI and TIRS. The USGS has committed to renaming the satellite as Landsat 8 following launch

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

An Alternative encyclopedia?

The modern encyclopedia was born in the eighteenth century. Although numerous studies have shed light on its evolution, important participants have been neglected. Dennis de Coetlogon’s Universal history of the arts and sciences may be little known to us today, but its contribution to the development of the encyclopedia is as compelling as it is paradoxical. Loveland examines the Universal history in its cultural context to provide the most detailed picture to date of the world of British encyclopedias in the first half of the eighteenth century. His lively analysis reveals how Coetlogon: • flouted the emerging norms of encyclopedia-writing, combining impartial discourse with harangues, advertisements and personal revelations • broadened the scope of the traditional dictionary of arts and sciences towards history, geography and religion • included far fewer and longer articles than was customary in alphabetical works • championed Christian and politically conservative values, providing a fascinating counter-model to the later French Encyclopédie In triggering the adoption of serial publication by the owners of Chambers’s Cyclopedia, and establishing a model for alphabetized treatises taken up by the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Universal history was indeed an inspiration for the modern encyclopedia. Introduction 1. Coetlogon’s life and autobiography 2. The publication of the Universal history 3. The compilation of the Universal history 4. A novel organisational plan 5. Advertising in and around encyclopedias 6. A polemical encyclopedia Conclusion Bibliography Index<br/

Rhetoric and natural history: buffon in polemical and literary context

This book examines the rhetorical dimension of eighteenth-century natural history. It focuses on the French naturalist and literary stylist Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, author of the bestselling multi-volume Histoire naturelle (1749-1789). Natural history as Buffon and his contemporaries knew it remains a fascinating object of study for its breadth, its cultural openness, and its disorderly energy. Rhetoric here is understood as a set of techniques for attracting and persuading an audience. As a contribution both to literary studies and to the history of science, Rhetoric and natural history adds to our understanding of the intellectual culture of the French Enlightenment. Acknowledgment Abbreviations Introduction 1 Style 2 Final causes 3 The chain of being 4 Systems and theories 5 Mathematics 6 Nominalism Conclusion List of works cited Inde