on December 22nd, 823, Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre was born in the village of Saint Rennes in Provence. In the following years, Fabres spent time in the home of his grandparents in Malaval, not far from the village. At that time, he was attracted by the lovely insects such as butterflies and slugs in the countryside. At the age of seven, Fabres returned to St. Rennes to start school, but that childhood has been deeply engraved in his heart.
in p>1833, the Fabres family came to rodez, and their father made a living by running a coffee shop. Four years later, the family moved to Toulouse. Fabres entered the seminary in Toulouse, but dropped out of school, went out to make a living, worked on the railway and sold lemons in the market. Later, he passed the selection examination of avignon Normal School, won a scholarship, and obtained a diploma from an institution of higher learning after three years of study.
After graduation, Fabres, who was 19 years old, started his teaching career in Cabentra, and the course he taught was the history of natural science.
in p>1849, he was appointed as a physics teacher in ajaccio, Corsica. The beautiful natural scenery and rich species on the island ignited his enthusiasm for studying plants and animals. Lequien, a botanist in avignon, taught him his knowledge. Since then, he has followed Mocan Tang Tong to collect flower specimens everywhere. This knowledgeable mentor laid a solid foundation for Fabres to become a naturalist and embark on the road of scientific research?
in p>1853, Fabres returned to the French mainland, was employed by a school in avignon, and moved his family into a simple house in dyer street in St. Dominique. In 1857, he published "Observations on the Habits of the Arthropoda", which corrected the wrong view of Leon dufour, the founder of entomology at that time, and thus won the praise of the French Institute and was awarded the Experimental Physiology Award. During this period, Fabres also devoted his energy to the study of natural dye madder or alizarin. At that time, the red color on French soldiers' army trousers came from madder powder. In 186, Fabres obtained three patents for this kind of research.
Later, Fabres was invited by Victor Duluy, Minister of Education, to take charge of the organization and teaching of an adult night school, but its free teaching method caused some people's dissatisfaction. So, he quit his job and settled down in Orange with his family, and lived there for more than ten years.
In these ten years, Fabres finished the first volume of the ten-volume Insect. During this period, he went to Wandu Mountain with his friends many times to collect plant specimens. In addition, he also got to know the British philosopher Mill, but Mill died young, and their plan of "Vakruz Vegetation Grand View" died. At the same time, a great misfortune befell Fabres: he had six children, among whom Jules, the only son who shared his father's interests and loved observing nature, died at the age of sixteen. Since then, Fabres has dedicated several plants he discovered to Jules who died young to express his memory.
The study of fungi has always been one of Fabres's hobbies. In 1878, he wrote many wonderful academic articles on the theme of Vacruzzi's fungi. His research on Kuai Zi is also very detailed, and his fragrance is described in detail. Gourmets claim that they can taste all the flavors described in his works from the real Kuai Zi.
In his later years, the success of Entomology earned Fabres the reputation of "Homer of Insects" and "Poet of Science", and his achievements were widely recognized by the society. Although Fabres has won many scientific titles, he is still as simple as ever, shy and humble, and leads a poor life. His talent was admired by scholars at that time, including British biologist Darwin, Belgian playwright maeterlinck, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, German writer Junger, French philosopher Bergson, poet Malamei, Provence writer Rumanier and so on. Because Fabres's experiments were accurately recorded in Insect Tale, and many secrets of insect life and living habits were uncovered, Darwin called Fabres an "observer that cannot be imitated". When he lived in Ang, Cellini, many scholars and writers visited him in succession. Fabres had received Pasteur, British philosopher Mill and other scholars in his own residence, but his correspondence with them was not frequent. Victor Duluy, Minister of Education, recommended Fabres to Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte, who awarded him the Medal of Honor. Raymond Poincare, a French politician, made a detour to pay his respects to him by way of Ang, Cellini.
Fabres's works with multiple identities are various: as a naturalist, he left many academic works on animals and plants, including Madder: Patents and Papers, Animals in avignon, Cuckoo, Agaricus Campestris on the Olive Tree, Grape Root Aphid, etc. As a teacher, he has written many chemical physics textbooks; As a poet, he wrote many poems in Provencal language in the south of France, and was affectionately called "Gadfly Poet" by the local people. In addition, he translated some works of Provencal poets into French. In his spare time, he also used his small mouth to compose some ditties.
However, the longest, most important and best-known of Fabres's works is Insect. This work not only shows his talent and literary talent in scientific observation and research, but also conveys his humanistic spirit and incomparable love for life to readers.
Darwin's theory of evolution is one of the "three great discoveries of natural science in the 19th century", and the 19th century was the century when "natural selection and survival of the fittest" prevailed. It was the spirit of seeking truth that gave him courage to make this untimely sound.
The Entomology, with a volume of 2 million words, not only records Fabres's research achievements in detail, but also records Fabres's motivation, life ambition, knowledge background and living conditions, especially Alma Lab, Atavism, My School, Pond, Mathematical Memories: Newton Binomial and Mathematical Memories: My Little Table. If we look at it from another perspective, we might as well regard Insect as Fabres's autobiography, a very peculiar autobiography. Insects are only evidence of his research experience and circumstantial materials of his biography.