Louis Albert Necker de Saussure FRSE MWS FGS (10 April 1786 – 20 November 1861) was a Swiss crystallographer and geographer.[1]
He is best remembered for devising the optical illusion now known as the Necker cube.[2]
Life
[edit]He was born in the Republic of Geneva, the son of botanist Professor Jacques Necker, nephew and namesake of statesman Jacques Necker, and Albertine Necker de Saussure.[3][4][5]
He was educated in Geneva, then sent to Edinburgh University in Scotland to study Sciences from 1806 to 1808.
The Necker cube is an optical illusion that was first published as a rhomboid in 1832 by him.[6]
He returned to Scotland in 1841 and settled on the Isle of Skye, lodging with the Cameron family at Bosville Terrace in Portree. His scientific interests turned to astronomy and a study of the aurora borealis. In 1843 and 1845, he was joined by his friend, James Forbes, a physicist and glaciologist. Together, they made the first accurate map of the Cuillins.[7]
He spent his later life mountaineering and collecting ornithological specimens. He died in Portree on 20 November 1861.[8] He is buried next to the Cameron family in the Portree churchyard.[7]
Works
[edit]- Mémoire sur les oiseaux des environs de Genève, Genève : Chez J.J. Paschoud, 1823. OCLC 12072634
- Voyage en Écosse et aux Iles Hébrides. Genève, Paris, J.J. Paschoud, 1821. OCLC 3759700
- Memoire sur la vallée de Valorsine, Genève : J. Barbezat et comp., 1828. OCLC 30521860
- Mémoire sur le Mont Somma. Genève. : Barbezat et Delarue. 1828. OCLC 68706185
- Le règne minéral ramené aux méthodes de l'histoire naturelle, Paris : Levrault, 1835. OCLC 8739030
- Études géologiques dans les Alpes, Paris : Pitois : Langlois et Leclercq ; Strasbourg : Levrault, 1841. OCLC 77840885
References
[edit]- ^ Forbes J D,1863. Biographical account of Professor Louis Albert Necker, of Geneva, Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Proc Royal Soc Edinburgh, 5: 53-76.
- ^ Wade N J, Campbell R N, Ross H E, Lingelbach B, 2010. Necker in Scotch perspective.' Perception, 39: 1-4.
- ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.
- ^ "Necker, Louis-Albert,known as Necker De Saussure". Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ Joseph, John E. (22 March 2012). Saussure (1st ed.). Oxford, U.K: Oxford University Press. p. 33. ISBN 9780199695652.
- ^ Necker, L. A. (1832). "Observations on some remarkable optical phaenomena seen in Switzerland; and on an optical phaenomenon which occurs on viewing a figure of a crystal or geometrical solid". London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 1 (5): 329–337. doi:10.1080/14786443208647909.
- ^ a b "Louis Albert Necker1786–1861". Portraits of European Neuroscientists. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ^ Mitchell J R. On the trail of Necker, from Geneva to Portree. West Highland Free Press, 12 July 2002, p. 15.