JEAN ANTOINE, a deacon, licentiate in theology, preceptor to the Enfants de France for physics and natural history, regius professor of physics in the college of Navarre, member of the Academy of Sciences Sciences at Paris, of the Royal Society of London, of the Institution of Bologna, and of the Academy of Sciences of Erfurt; was born at Pimbré, in the diocese of Noyon, on the 17th of November 1700, of respectable but not wealthy parents. To make up the want of riches, they determined to give their son a good education. They sent him to the college of Clermont in Beauvais, and afterwards to Beauvais, there to finish his introductory studies. The progress which he made in the different classes, determined them to send him to study philosophy at Paris. Thenceforward they intended him for the clerical order; and they considered the strictness and purity of his morals, together with his unwearied application to study, as sufficient proofs of his vocation. The young Nollet yielded without reluctance to the wishes of his parents. As soon as he was capable of showing an inclination for anything, he had discovered a taste for physics; but this was not become his ruling passion; he therefore sacrificed it to the study of scholastic divinity, to which he wholly dedicated himself during his time of probation in 1728. No sooner had he been invested with the deaconship, than he solicited and obtained a licence to preach. This new occupation, however, did not make him entirely lose sight of those studies which had first engaged his attention. They insensibly began to occupy a greater portion of his time, which was now more equally divided between theology and the sciences. The latter, however, prevailed; and thenceforth he entered into the study of physics with an ardour which was only increased by that kind of privation to which he had been long subject. He was received into the Society of Arts, established at Paris under the patronage of the late count de Clermont. In 1730, the abbé Nollet was engaged in a work conjointly with Reaumur and du Fay of the Academy of Sciences. In 1734, he went to London in company with M. du Fay, du Hamel, and de Jussieu. His merit procured him a place in the Royal Society without any solicitation. Two years after, he went to Holland, where he formed an intimate connection with Desaguliers, Gravande, and Muchenbroeck. On his return to Paris, he resumed the course of experimental physics which he had begun in 1735, and which he continued till 1760. These courses of physics first suggested the idea of particular courses in other branches of science, such as in chemistry, anatomy, natural history, &c. In 1738, the count de Maurepas prevailed on the cardinal Fleury to establish a public class for experimental physics; and the abbé Nollet was appointed the first professor. In the beginning of the year 1739, he was admitted a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences; and in the month of April following, the king of Sardinia intending to establish a professorship of physics at Turin, invited the abbé Nollet into his dominions. From thence he travelled into Italy. In 1744, he was honoured with an invitation to Versailles, to instruct the dauphin in experimental philosophy; the king and royal family were often present at his lectures. The qualities as well of his understanding as of his heart gained him the esteem and confidence of his pupil. Going one day in state to Paris, he caused intimation to be made that he was to dine at the Tuileries. M. Nollet having gone thither to pay his court, the dauphin no sooner perceived him, than he had the goodness to say, "Binet has the advantage of me, he has been at your house." Till the period of his death, this prince showed marks of the strongest attachment and favour for this ingenious philosopher. He would have wished that he had been a little more attentive to the improvement of his fortune. He prevailed upon him to go and pay court to a man in power, whose patronage might have been of service to him. The abbé Nollet accordingly waited upon the placeman, and made him a present of his works. "I never read any works of that kind," said the patron coldly, and casting a look at the volumes before him. "Sir (replied the abbé), will you allow them to remain in your antichamber? There perhaps there may be found men of genius who will read them with pleasure." In the month of April 1749, he made a grand tour into Italy, being sent thither for the purpose of making observations. At Turin, Venice, and Bologna, the abbé Nollet appeared as a deputy from the philosophers of the rest of Europe. During his short stay in Italy, the wonders of electricity were not the only object of his researches; every part of physics, the arts, agriculture, &c. came equally under his notice. Upon his return through Turin, the king of Sardinia, always truly sensible of his merit, offered him the order of Saint Maurice, which he did not think proper to accept without his sovereign's permission. In 1753 the king instituted a class of experimental philosophy in the royal college of Navarre, and appointed the abbé Nollet professor. In 1757, he received from the king a brevet appointing him preceptor in physics and natural history to the Enfants de France. In the month of August, the same year, he was appointed professor of experimental philosophy in the school of artillery, at that time established at la Fere. In the month of November following, he was admitted as a peninsular of the Royal Academy of Sciences. M. de Cremillo, director general of artillery and fortification, having founded a class of experimental philosophy at Mezières in 1761, the abbé Nollet was appointed professor. This celebrated and laborious philosopher, who has rendered the most important services to physics by the discoveries with which he has enriched every branch of this science, but particularly electricity, died at Paris on the 24th of April 1770, aged 70; much regretted by the literary world, and by his friends, of whom his gentle character and beneficent heart had procured him a great number. He often retired from the gay and splendid societies of Paris, to give assistance to his relations, who were by no means in affluent circumstances. His works are, 1. Several papers inserted in the memoirs of the Academy of Sciences; among which one on the Hearing of Filhes is particularly valuable. 2. Leçons de Physique Experimentale, 6 vols 12mo; a book well composed, and uniting pleasure with instruction. 3. Recueil de Lettres sur l'Electricité, 3 vols 12mo, 1753. 4. Essai sur l'Electricité des corps, 1 vol. 12mo. 5. Recherches sur les causes particulières des Phénomènes Électriques, 1 vol. 12mo. 6. D'Andres experiences, 3 vols 12mo, with figures, 1770.