François Huber

François Huber (July 2, 1750 - December 22, 1831) was a Swiss naturalist.

He was born at Geneva, of a family which had already made its mark in the literary and scientific world: his great-aunt, Marie Huber, was known as a voluminous writer on religious and theological subjects, and as the translator and epitomizer of The Spectator (Amsterdam, 3 vols., 1753); and his father Jean Huber (1721-1786), who had served for many years as a soldier, was a prominent member of the coterie at Ferney, distinguishing himself by his "Observations sur le vol des oiseaux" (Geneva, 1784).

François Huber was only fifteen years old when he began to suffer from a disease which gradually resulted in total blindness; but, with the aid of his wife, Marie Aimée Lullin, and of his servant, François Burnens, he was able to carry out investigations that laid the foundations of a scientific knowledge of the life history of the honey bee. His "Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles" was published at Geneva in 1792 (Eng. trans., 1806).

He assisted Jean Senebier in his "Mém. sur l'influence de l'air, etc., dans la germination" (Geneva, 1800); and he also wrote "Mém. sur l'origine de la cire" ("Bibliothéque britannique", tome xxv.), a "Lettre a M. Pictet sur certains dangers que courent les abeilles" ("Bib. brit." xxvii), and "Nouvelles Observ. rel. au sphinx Atropos" (Bib. brit. xxvii). He died at Lausanne on 22 December 1831. A. P. de Candolle gave his name to a genus of Brazilian trees--"Huberia burma".

External links

* [http://www.bushfarms.com/huber.htm The full text of 'New Observations on the Natural History of Bees' by François Huber 1806 English edition]
* [http://bees.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=bees;idno=5017286 Complete scan of 'New Observations on the Natural History of Bees' by François Huber 1806 English edition]
* [http://www.amazon.com/Beekeepers-Pupil-Sara-George/dp/0747266638 The Beekeeper's Pupil, by Sara George. A fictional account of M. Huber's research in the form of a diary by his manservant-turned-assistant.]

References

*1911