Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond

Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond
Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond
Born	17 May 1741 Montélimar
Died	18 July 1819 (1819-07-19) (aged 78)
Nationality	French
Occupation	geology
Employer	Jardin des Plantes

Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (17 May 1741 – 18 July 1819), French geologist and traveller.

He was born at Montélimar. He was educated at the Jesuit's College at Lyon and afterwards at Grenoble where he studied law and was admitted as an advocate to the parlement.

He rose to be president of the seneschal's court in Montélimar (1765), where he acquitted himself with distinction. However, he became disenchanted with law and wished to pursue his love of nature that had begun earlier in his life. His favourite pastime was visiting the mountain regions in the Alps and Massif Central. There he began to study the forms, structure, composition and superposition of rocks.

In 1775 in the Velay he discovered a rich deposit of pozzuolana, that was eventually mined by the government. In 1776 he established a relationship with Buffon, who recognised the value of his scientific efforts immediately. Invited by Buffon to Paris, Faujas ceased his legal work and was appointed assistant naturalist to the natural history museum by Louis XVI. Later, he was appointed royal commissioner for mines.

One of his most important works was Recherches sur les volcans éteints du Vivarais et du Velay, which appeared in 1778. This publication documented his astute observations allowing Faujas to develop a theory about the origin of volcanoes. In his capacity of commissioner for mines Faujas travelled to most European countries where he closely observed the natural environment and the rock formations. In Britain he met William and Caroline Herschel. He however was determined to visit Staffa and he set out with the American polymath William Thornton and the Italian balloonist Count Andreani.