Jean-Henri Fabre


Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre was a French naturalist, entomologist, and author known for the lively style of his popular books on the lives of insects.
WWW e-fabre.com

Biography

Fabre was born on 21 December 1823 in Saint-Léons in Aveyron, France.
Fabre was largely an autodidact, owing to the poverty of his family. Nevertheless, he acquired a primary teaching certificate at the age of 19 and began teaching in Carpentras whilst pursuing further studies. In 1849, he was appointed to a teaching post in Ajaccio, then in 1853 moved on to the lycée in Avignon.
Fabre was a popular teacher, physicist, chemist and botanist. However, he is probably best known for his findings in the field of entomology, the study of insects, and is considered by many to be the father of modern entomology. Much of his enduring popularity is due to his marvellous teaching ability and his manner of writing about the lives of insects in biographical form, which he preferred to a clinically detached, journalistic mode of recording. In doing so he combined what he called "my passion for scientific truth" with keen observations and an engaging, colloquial style of writing. Fabre wrote:
His Souvenirs Entomologiques is a series of texts on insects and arachnids. He influenced the later writings of Charles Darwin, who called Fabre "an inimitable observer". Fabre, however, was a Christian who remained sceptical about Darwin's theory of evolution, as he always held back from all theories and systems. His special force was exact and detailed observation, field research, always avoiding general conclusions from his observations, which he considered premature.
In one of Fabre's most famous experiments, he arranged pine processionary caterpillars to form a continuous loop around the edge of a pot. As each caterpillar instinctively followed the silken trail of the caterpillars in front of it, the group moved around in a circle for seven days. He further was able to forecast low atmospheric pressure events by observing the behaviours of the caterpillars.
He died on 11 October 1915.
In the English speaking world, he became known through the extensive translations of his work by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, carried out from 1912 to 1922.

Works

Scène de la vie des insectesChimie agricole La Terre Le Ciel - Le livre d’histoires, récits scientifiques de l’oncle Paul à ses neveux. Lectures courantes pour toutes les écoles - Catalogue des « Insectes Coléoptères observés aux environs d'Avignon » Les Ravageurs Les Auxiliaires, récits de l’oncle Paul sur les animaux utiles à l’agriculture Aurore Botanique L'Industrie Les Serviteurs Sphériacées du Vaucluse Souvenirs entomologiques – 1st series – Etude sur les moeurs des Halictes Le Livre des Champs Lectures sur la Botanique Nouveaux souvenirs entomologiques – 2nd series – Lectures sur la Zoologie Zoologie Souvenirs entomologiques – 3rd series – Histoire naturelles Souvenirs entomologiques – 4th series – La plante : leçons à mon fils sur la botanique – Souvenirs entomologiques – 5th series – Souvenirs entomologiques – 6th series – Souvenirs entomologiques – 7th series – Souvenirs entomologiques – 8th series Souvenirs entomologiques – 9th series Souvenirs entomologiques – 10th series Fabre's Book of Insects retold from Alexander Teixeira de Mattos' translation of Fabre's Souvenirs entomologiques Oubreto Provençalo dou Felibre di Tavan La Vie des insectes Mœurs des insectes Les Merveilles de l'instinct chez les insectes Le monde merveilleux des insectes Poésie françaises et provençales La Vie des araignées Bramble-Bees and Others, The Life of the Grasshopper. Dodd, Mead, and company, 1917. ASIN B00085HYR4Insect Adventures. Dodd, Mead, 1917. Selections from Alexander Teixeira de Mattos' translation of Fabre's Souvenirs entomologiques, retold for young people.The Life of the Caterpillar. Dodd, Mead, 1919. ASIN B00089FB2AField, Forest, and Farm: Things interesting to young nature lovers, including some matters of moment to gardeners and fruit-growers. The Century Company, 1919. ASIN B00085PDU4 This Earth of Ours: Talks about Mountains and Rivers, Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Geysers & Other Things. Albert & Charles Boni, 1923. ASIN B000EHLE22The Life of The Scorpion. University Press of the Pacific, 2002. The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles. Dodd, Mead, 1919. ASIN B000882F2KThe Mason Bees Garden City, 1925. ASIN B00086XXU0; Reprinted in 2004 by Kessinger Publishing; ;, Curiosities of Science. The Century Company, 1927. ASIN B00086KVBEThe Insect World of J. Henri Fabre. Introduction and Interpretive Comments by Edwin Way Teale; foreword to 1991 edition by Gerald Durrell. Published by Dodd, Mead in 1949; Reprinted by Beacon Press in 1991; The Life of the Spider preface by Maurice Maeterlinck, Wikisource full textThe Life of the Fly. Fredonia Books, 2001. ; The Hunting Wasps. University Press of the Pacific, 2002. ; More Hunting Wasps The Wonders of Instinct: Chapters in the Psychology of Insects. University Press of the Pacific, 2002. ;, Social Life in the Insect World, Insect life

Legacy

The site of his birth, at St Léons, near Millau is now the site of Micropolis, a tourist attraction dedicated to popularising entomology and a museum on his life.
His last home and office, the Harmas de Fabre in Provence is similarly a museum devoted to his life and work. His insect collection is preserved in the Musée Requien in Avignon.
The French post office commemorated Fabre in 1956 with a stamp depicting a portrait of him.
The 1951 biographical film Monsieur Fabre is devoted to his life.
Blood of the Mantis, a 2009 fantasy novel by the British author Adrian Tchaikovsky is dedicated to Fabre.
Fabre appears as the only major human character in a Caper story parody set on his property in Matthew Bennardo's short story "The Famous Fabre Fly Caper".

Biographies

  • G.V. Legros,, Fabre, Poet of Science. T. Fisher Unwin, 1913.
  • E.L. Bouvier, "The Life and Work of J.H. Fabre". Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1916, pages 587–597.
  • Augustin Fabre, . Dodd, Mead, 1921.
  • Percy F. Bicknell, The Human Side of Fabre. The Century Company, 1923.
  • Eleanor Doorly, The Insect Man, William Heinemann, 1936
  • Stephan Krall, Vom Leben und Sterben der Insekten. Die Welt des Jean-Henri Fabre, Hirzel, Stuttgart, 2023.