Jean-Baptiste Robinet
French scientist (1735-1820)
Jean-Baptiste Robinet (French: [ʁɔbinɛ]; 23 June 1735 – 24 March 1820), also known as Jean-Baptiste-René Robinet, was a French naturalist, known for his five-volume work De la nature (1761–68). He was also involved in the sequel publications to the Encyclopédie, took on Diderot's editorial role, and was a translator of numerous works to the French language.
Life
Robinet was born in Rennes on 23 June 1735, and died there on 24 March 1820. Early in life he was educated by the Jesuits and embraced the rule of St. Ignatius, but soon regretted his loss of freedom and entered the world of letters. He traveled to Holland to publish his book De la nature which in time gained notoriety due to the peculiar opinions presented in the book. Upon his return to Paris in 1778 he was appointed royal censor and private secretary to Antoine-Jean Amelot de Chaillou. During the French Revolution he lost all employment and retired to his home, where he lived in relative seclusion, occupied only with family duties. He had been a disciple of encyclopédistes, but was also committed to the principles of the church. He eventually returned to the church and signed a recantation of his errors.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q611233. VIAF identifies the subject as 41845802. The Library of Congress control number is n87110454. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1735, 1820, 1761 and 1778.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jean-Baptiste Robinet” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.