Mariotte

Mariotte, EDMÉ, a French physicist, born in Burgundy during the first half of the 17th century—the year is not known—was prior of St Martin-sous-Beaune, and died at Paris, 12th May 1684. He was one of the earliest members of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and wrote original papers on percussion, the nature of air and its pressure, the movements of fluid bodies and of pendulums, on colours, &c. What is on the Continent called Mariotte's Law is rather Boyle's Law, and is an empirical law stated by Boyle (q.v.) in his Defence of the Doctrine touching the Spring and Weight of the Air (1662), and by Mariotte in his Discours sur la Nature de l'Air (1676). See GASES. Mariotte's collected works were published at Leyden in 1717, and at The Hague (2 vols.) in 1740.