On December 22, 1823, Fabre was born in a farmer's home in Saint-Leon Village, Aveyron Province, southern France. His father, Andouine Fabre, was eloquent and fond of fighting injustice; his mother, Victoire Sarge, was gentle and amiable. But they are a poor family in a mountainous area. When Fabre was about four years old, his parents sent him to live with his grandmother to temporarily reduce the family's burden of food and clothing. The innocent child fell in love with the white geese, calves and sheep at her grandmother's house, and was fascinated by the flowers, plants, insects and birds in the outdoor nature.

When he was seven years old, his parents took him home and sent him to the village primary school. The conditions of the school building are extremely simple, with one regular room and a rooftop attic. The formal room serves as a classroom, kitchen, dining hall and bedroom. Outside the door is a chicken coop and pig pen. Although the teacher is responsible, he is often unable to teach normally because he also serves as the village's barber, caretaker of the old castle, bell ringer, choir member and clock repairman.

When he first entered the classroom, Fabre was very uncomfortable. The 26 French letters took him several times more time than others, but little Fabre had a particularly strong desire for knowledge. He often had the opportunity to run to the countryside, and every time he came back, his pockets were filled with snails, shells, mushrooms or other plants and insects. Adults yearn for city life.

When Fabre was ten years old, he had not finished elementary school, so he had to move with his family to Rodez in this province. The parents opened a small cafe there, and arranged for little Fabre, who loved learning, to go to Rodez Middle School, where he would only attend classes and not have room and board at school. During this period, in order to pay the tuition, Fabre went to the church every Sunday, did some service work for mass activities, and earned a small amount of remuneration. Throughout the middle school period, the Fabre family was forced to make a living and moved several times, settling in Toulouse in the Haute-Garonne Province and Montpellier in the Erona Province. The young Fabre had to go out to work to make a living, making it impossible for him to continue studying in middle school. He seizes all the time to study by himself and remembers to ask questions frequently.

When he was 15 years old, he applied alone for the Normal School in Avignon, Vaucluse, and was officially admitted. After graduating from Avignon Normal School, Fabre found a position as a junior high school teacher at Carpentras Middle School in the same province, and began a career as a middle school teacher that lasted more than 20 years.

At first, he taught mathematics. Once when I took students to an outdoor geometry class, I suddenly discovered a bee and a honeycomb on the rocks. The "worm heart" that had been imprisoned in urban life for eight or nine years suddenly came to life. He spent a month's salary to buy a book on entomology. After reading it carefully, an irrepressible and powerful motivation emerged, and he determined to be a person who writes the history of insects. He was under 19 years old that year.

He was determined to study insects, but teaching was the only way to survive, and Fabre still had to struggle with practical problems. He first took the college entrance examination organized by the relevant departments and obtained a high school diploma. Later, he persisted in part-time self-study, passed various examinations, and obtained a university-qualified bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics.

Fabre, 24, was dispatched to Corsica by the government education department to serve as a teacher at the middle school in Ajaccio. While he worked hard to teach, he also used his spare time to observe and record animals and plants. Four years later, he was transferred back to Avignon as a secondary school teacher. He has an ideal in mind: one day he can lecture at a university. Two years later, Fabre was still self-study and obtained a bachelor's degree in natural sciences. Another year later, the 31-year-old Fabre obtained a doctorate in natural sciences with two outstanding academic papers. The titles of the two papers are: "Research on Nodules of Orchid Plants" and "Research on the Anatomy of Regenerative Organs and Research on the Development of Myriapods". In the same year, he published his long-term accumulation of results - "Observations on the Customs of the Arthroplasty" in the "Annals of Natural Science". "Observation" has won widespread appreciation. Fabre's outstanding observation skills are impressive. People recognize that he not only corrected the mistakes of previous authoritative scholars and made up for the omissions of previous generations, but also elaborated unique insights.

Fabre’s entomology articles began to attract people’s attention. At the age of 34, he published research results on the problem of metamorphosis in elytra insects. His academic quality and theoretical significance impressed his peers. The Institut de France awarded him a prize for experimental physiology, affirming that his research on living insects has value different from insect structural anatomy. The British biologist Darwin paid special attention to the young Frenchman; when "On the Origin of Species" came out in 1859, people read that Darwin called him "an inimitable observer."

The knowledgeable teacher Fabre discovered a process for extracting red dye from madder, and the local government was ready to adopt his technology. Unexpectedly, after several years of setbacks, the factory owner finally built a workshop for artificially synthesizing madder dye, failing to realize his "industrial chemical dream" of utilizing the natural resources of madder. During this period, the Imperial Ministry of Education awarded him a medal in the name of an outstanding teacher, mainly in recognition of his ability to engage in natural science research while still a teacher; he was also received by Napoleon III for a few minutes.

After abandoning the chemical engineering plan, in order to implement the teaching reform plan of the Minister of Education and add natural course content, Fabre gave some lectures to female college students from time to time, and more and more people attended the lectures.

Out of conservatism, prejudice and jealousy, a group of well-known political and educational figures accused him of being a "subversive and dangerous figure". Diehards in the religious community attacked him for "talking about plant sexual reproduction in front of girls." Finally, the landlord came forward and forced Fabre and his family to move out.

Fabre decided to leave the city of Avignon, determined never to be on a university platform again. The year was 1870, and Fabre was 46 years old. Fabre brought his wife, family and children into the Vaucluse Province and found a home in Orange. First lose your job, then spend money on travel expenses, and your life will be lost. Fabre, who had always been shy, opened his mouth for the first time to "ask for money" and complained to the famous British philosopher Mill (formerly translated as "Mill"), whom he had only met a few times. This British friend had been living in Avignon for several years. Mr. Mill's generous donation helped the Fabre family survive the difficulties.

In the next five years, Fabre mainly made a living by writing readings on natural science knowledge, and his outstanding literary talent began to be revealed. He has published many reading books, including explanatory works such as "Sky", "Earth" and "Plants", as well as a series of story works such as "Uncle Paul Talks about Pests".

In 1875, after long-term thinking, Fabre decided to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the city and accelerate the implementation of his entomology work plan to sort out old materials and conduct new research. He took his family and moved to the rural town of Serignan. The conditions in the town are poor in all aspects, and there are not even decent schools. He encouraged his younger son: here you can develop a strong body and a strong mind, and you can discover beauty and truth more than in a pile of old papers. After four years of hard work and more than 20 years of data collection, the first volume of "Insects" was published in 1879. In 1880, Fabre's long-cherished wish finally came true: he used a small amount of money he had saved to buy an old house on wasteland near a small town, and his plan to further study live insects was about to become a reality. He was in a good mood and gave this residence a humorous nickname in the local Proven?al language - Barren Stone Garden. Year after year, the owner of the barren stone garden wears a farmer's duffle coat, eats the plain soup and rice of ordinary people, and digs with a pickaxe and a shovel. As a result, flowers and plants bloom, bushes grow, and a paradise for hundreds of insects is built. He guarded his beloved wild stone garden, worked hard at full power, and tirelessly engaged in unique entomological research, writing the fruits of his labor into volumes of "Insects". In this way, he spent the remaining 35 years of his life alone, joyful, miserable and peacefully. "Insect Diary" is a masterpiece that was painstakingly written based on a large amount of scientific reporting materials and literary temperament. The style is basically prose, and the main content is focused on entomological issues. It also includes some biographical articles about experiences and memories of the past, and some articles that solve theoretical problems. Discussions, and a small amount of text with popular science knowledge. The strengths of a weathered and ever-chasing entomological explorer are fully exploited in this masterpiece. There are more than 220 articles in ten volumes, and the content is rich and has its own fair share. However, the difficulty of its project is probably only understood by the author himself.

Fabre said this: "Prose writing" is more "cruel" than solving the roots of equations. When the tenth volume was drafted, he originally did not plan to include the two articles "Cattleworm" and "Firefly" because these two articles were written for the planned eleventh volume. At this time, he realized that his 85-year-old body could no longer support his bones, his ears and eyes were dizzy, and his fingers were so stiff that it was difficult to write normally. In the end, he buried the idea of ??"Volume 11" in his mind and resolutely designated the two articles as supplements to Volume 10. In 1910, when he was 86 years old, the tenth volume came out. He held the book, leaned on crutches, put on a magnifying glass, and wandered in the "Barren Stone Garden" with one step and three steps. He still wanted to write "Insects" again... But the old man's wish could not be realized.

In this year, in the name of "fiftieth anniversary of writing "Insects"", the family invited Fabre's close friends and academic friends to "Barren Stone Garden" to hold a small celebration for him. meeting. Fabre felt so comforted that his eyes filled with tears.

When the news came out, the public opinion circle was shocked: the French had so easily forgotten this proud compatriot who lived in seclusion in the "Barren Stone Garden"! Fabre doesn't care about this "oversight". He is beginning to plan to publish a ten-volume hardcover version of "Insects" and personally wrote a short preface for this edition. The preface ends with these words: "It is a pity that I am now forced to interrupt these studies. You must know that engaging in these studies is the only comfort I have received in my life. After reading all over the world, I know that insects are the most numerous. Even if I can gain some strength and maybe even live a few more long lives, I still can't fully understand the benefits of insects." The press created a publicity campaign. The name "Bull" spread everywhere; praises such as "amazing", "most outstanding" and "great" came one after another, and honorary laurels flew to the old man one after another; the "Barren Stone Garden" was bustling with people rushing to visit, express condolences and congratulations. Among them are ordinary readers, dignitaries in academia, and government officials lined with cars. There was only one piece of news that could tempt Fabre: in that year, the number of copies of his works sold was the total number of copies sold in the previous 20 years. Later, small plaster statues of Fabre appeared everywhere; and later, large statues of Fabre were unveiled one after another.

The old man had never known glory and glory in his life, so he shook his head subconsciously, feeling quite baffled. The nearly 90-year-old man said to his old friend in a humorous tone: "These practices are too 'wonderful'.

They can do whatever they like. Anyway, I feel that I am getting more and more haggard every day, and I am getting closer to the end every day. "Only one month away from his 92nd birthday, Fabre lay in bed, waiting for the arrival of another landmark day in his life. It was a day in November 1915, and he was as calm as a warrior who defied death. At this time, people discovered that he had passed away quietly. A giant who used insects as his harp to vibrate the fate of mankind disappeared. Less than ten years after Fabre's death, ten volumes of "Insects" were published. p>

His son-in-law, Dr. Legro, will publish a collection of articles about his life as a sequel to Volume 11 of "Insects". The French literary circle once recommended him as the "Virgil of the Insect World". As a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Unfortunately, before the Nobel Prize committee members could make a final decision, the news came that Fabre had passed away. However, this glorious title was widely praised by people. Observer", he was recognized as an "entomologist" in his later years; after his death, people called him "entomologist, writer" for a period of time, and later called him "writer, entomologist". These titles , it is well deserved for Fabre.