When the anatomists at the seventeenth-century Paris Academy of Sciences wished to dissect an animal – which was often – they called on Claude-Antoine Couplet (1642-1722). Couplet was an élève (literally, a student) of the Academy, although he was hardly an adolescent. When the Paris Observatory opened in 1672, Couplet moved in as its concierge, …
Category: Paris
The King’s Elephant
Last month, someone broke into the Paleontology wing of the Paris Museum of Natural History, and used a chain saw to cut off one of the tusks of the elephant skeleton there. The skeleton dates from 1681 and is the oldest specimen at the museum. Here is a little on the skeleton’s origins, from my …
Deux minutes
We called him “deux minutes,” two minutes. We saw him at least once a week on the number 11 métro line, between Châtelet and our stop at Goncourt in the tenth arrondissement. Line 11 is a short line that travels northeast from the huge crossroads at Châtelet, and its passengers were mostly working people going …
What do historians do?
What do historians do? When I tell my non-academic friends and family that I just spent time in Paris doing research, the response usually is “lucky you! I wish I had a job like that.” I can see in their imaginations that I am sitting in a café, drinking a grande crème and writing in …
Anita Guerrini 