J. Henri Fabre

Jean Henri Fabre

Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre (December 22, 1823 - October 11, 1915) was a French entomologist and author.

Fabre was largely an autodidact, owing to the poverty of his family. Nevertheless, he acquired a primary teaching certificate at the young age of 19.

Fabre went on to accomplish many scholarly achievements. He was a popular teacher, physicist, and botanist. However, he is probably best known for his findings in the field of entomology, the study of insects, and is considered by many to be the father of modern entomology.

He wrote a series of texts on the subject over his life, collectively known as the Souvenirs Entomologiques. Fabre's influence is felt in the later works of fellow naturalist Charles Darwin, who called Fabre "an inimitable observer". Fabre, however, rejected Darwin's theory of evolution.

Jean-Henri Fabre's last home and office, the "Harmas de Sérignan" in Provence stands today as a museum devoted to his life and works.

The site of his birth, at St Léons, near Millau is now the site of Micropolis, a tourist attraction dedicatd to popularisng entomology and a museum on his life.

Works

• Scène de la vie des insectes
• Chimie agricole (scholar book) (1862)
• La Terre (1865)
• Le Ciel (scholar book) (1867) - Read on gallica
• Catalogue des « Insectes Coléoptères observés aux environs d'Avignon » (1870)
• Les Ravageurs (1870)
• Les Auxiliaires (1873)
• Aurore (scholar book) (1874) Read on gallica
• Botanique (scholar book) (1874)
• L'Industrie (scholar book) (1875)
• Les Serviteurs (scholar book) (1875)
• Sphériacées du Vaucluse (1878)
• Souvenirs entomologiques - 1st serie (1891) - (1879) - Read on gallica
• Etude sur les moeurs des Halictes (1879)
• Le Livre des Champs (1879)
• Lectures sur la Botanique (1881)
• Nouveaux souvenirs entomologiques - 2th serie (1882) - Read on gallica
• Lectures sur la Zoologie (1882)
• Zoologie (scholar book) (1884)
• Souvenirs entomologiques - 3th serie (1886) - Read on gallica
• Histoire naturelles (scholar book) (1889)
• Souvenirs entomologiques - 4th serie (1891) - Read on gallica
• La plante : leçons à mon fils sur la botanique (livre scolaire) (1892) - Read on gallica
• Souvenirs entomologiques - 5th serie (1897) - Read on gallica
• Souvenirs entomologiques - 6th serie (1900) - Read on gallica
• Souvenirs entomologiques - 7th serie (1901) - Read on gallica
• Souvenirs entomologiques - 8th serie (1903)
• Souvenirs entomologiques - 9th serie (1905)
• Souvenirs entomologiques - 10th serie (1909)
• Oubreto Provençalo dou Felibre di Tavan (1909)
• La Vie des insectes (1910)
• Mœurs des insectes (1911)
• Les Merveilles de l'instinct chez les insectes (1913)
• Le monde merveilleux des insectes (1921)
• Poésie françaises et provençales (1925) (final edition)
• La Vie des araignées (1928)

Trivia

• In the OVA Read or Die, Jean-Henri Fabre, riding a giant grasshopper, is among a number of evil clones of historical and legendary figures.
• In 1956 the French post office commemorated Fabre on a well-engraved stamp. A postcard, with a portrait of him, accompanied the issue