REAUMUR, ra-6-mfir, Rene Antoine Fer chault de, French physicist: b. La Rochelle, 28 Feb. 1683; d. La Bermondiere, Me., 17 Oct. 1757. He studied under the Jesuits at Poitiers, and afterward at Bourges, and went to Paris in 1703. His relative, the president, Henault, introduced him to the savants of the metropolis, and in 1708 he was chosen a member of the Academy of Sciences, to which he had pre sented some memoirs on geometry. For nearly 50 years he continued to be one of its most active members, his labors embracing the arts, natural philosophy and natural history. He was appointed to assist in the 'Description des Divers Arts et Métiers,' published by the Acad emy, and in executing his part of the under taking pointed out the way to various improve ments by the application of the principles of physics and natural history. He made import ant observations on the formation of pearls and discovered that the 'turquoises* of Langue doc consisted of the fossil teeth of extinct ani mals; but among his most useful researches must be reckoned those of which he gave an account in his 'Traite sur l'Art de Convertir le Fer en Acier, et d'Adoucir le Fer Fondu) (1722), in which he first made known in France the process of manufacturing steel. He re
ceived therefor a pension of 12,000 livres (about $2,400). As a natural philosopher he is principally celebrated for the invention of an improved thermometer, which he made known in 1731. (See THERMOMETER). The fabrication of porcelain also occupied much of his atten tion, and led him to the discovery of a kind of enamel, called the porcelain of Reatimur, in 1739. His pour Servir it l'Histoire des Insects' (1734-49) places him in the first rank of modern naturalists. In it he demon strated, among various things, the correctness of Peysonnel's assumption that corals are not plants, but animals. He bequeathed his price less collections of minerals, plants and manu scripts to the Academy of Sciences.