Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657 – 1757) was a French scientist and man of letters. He was educated at the Jesuit college in Rouen. He first began to receive success in writing with his 1683 work Dialogues des Morts, which used conversations to present philosophical ideas. His accessible style of writing contributed to an interest in and understanding of the works of other scientists of his time. His most famous work was Entretiens sur la pluralite des mondes (A Plurality of Worlds, 1686). In 1697, six years after he was first elected to the French Academy, he began a forty-two year appointment as the secretary of the Academy of Sciences.

Quotes by Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle…