Jacques Besson

Jacques Besson
Born	1540? Briançon, France
Died	1573 England
Nationality	French
Fields	Engineering, Mathematics, Instrumentation

Jacques Besson (1540? - 1573) was a French Protestant inventor, mathematician, and philosopher, chiefly remembered for his popular treatise on machines Theatrum Instrumentorum (1571–72), which saw many reprints in different languages.

Little information has survived about Besson's early life; he described himself as being from Colombières, near Briançon. He was most likely born around 1540. In the early 1550s he is recorded as teaching mathematics in Paris, following which the next account of him dates from April 1557, when he is recorded in the minutes of the town council of Lausanne, Switzerland, as being paid for models of pumps and fountains.

In 1559 he published his first treatise in Zurich, the De absoluta ratione extrahendi olea et aquas e medicamentis simplicibus (on the complete doctrine of extracting oils and waters from simple drugs), featuring an introduction by Conrad Gesner. That same year he moved to Geneva where in 1561 he requested permission to become a citizen of Geneva. His entry in Geneva's Livre de Bourgeois notes that citizenship was awarded as a result of his services "in teaching the art and science of mathematics"

In 1562 Besson became the pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Villeneuve-de-Berg, France, Olivier de Serres having sent a request to the Company of Pastors for a minister. However, less than two years later he was forced out by a rival. By 1565 he was back in Paris, where in 1567 he published his second treatise, Le Cosmolabe, which described an elaborate instrument based on the astrolabe which could be used for navigation, surveying, cartography, and astronomy. Le Cosmolabe also introduced a number of mechanical inventions that he hoped to describe in more detail in a future work. Besson was described as a professor of mathematics from Orléans.

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