Noël-Antoine Pluche (13 November 1688 – 19 November 1761), known as the abbé Pluche, was a French priest. He is now known for his Spectacle de la nature, a most popular work of natural history.
Biography
Pluche, son of a baker, was born in Reims, in a street now named after him. He became a teacher of rhetoric. The Bishop of Laon made him head of the town's college, a post he accepted to escape judicial consequences of opposing the papal bullUnigenitus (1713)
His Spectacle de la nature, ou Entretiens sur les particularités de l'Histoire naturelle qui ont paru les plus propres à rendre les jeunes gens curieux et à leur former l'esprit was published in nine volumes 1732–1742, and widely translated all over Europe. Although it influenced many to become naturalists, it was a work of popularization, not of science.
Works
Istoria del cielo considerato secondo le idee de' poeti, de' filosofi, e di Mosè, 1747
Histoire du ciel considéré selon les idées des poètes, des philosophes et de Moïse. Den Haag: Jean Neaulme. 1739.
Spectacle de la nature. Paris: Jacques Estienne, Veuve et Fils & Jean Desaint. 1740.
Lo spettacolo della natura. Venice: Giovanni Battista Pasquali. 1740.
Istoria del cielo. Venice: Giovanni Battista Pasquali. 1747.
De linguarum artificio et doctrina. Paris: La Veuve Estienne & Fils. 1751.
La mécanique des langues, et l'art de les enseigner. Paris: La Veuve Estienne & Fils. 1751.
Concorde de la géographie des différens âges. Paris: Les Freres Estienne. 1754.
Lettre sur la Sainte Ampoule, et sur le sacre de nos rois, à Reims. Paris: Les Freres Estienne. 1775.
