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Nicolas Fizes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nicolas Fizes (27 October 1648 in Frontignan – 1718) was a French professor of mathematics and hydrography, who lived under the reign of Louis XIV. He is especially known as the librettist who wrote L'Opéra de Frontignan (1670), a play in Occitan, dealing with a slight love intrigue, and an idyllic poem on the fountain of Frontignan.

Signature in 1688 of Nicolas Fizes

Career

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Nicolas Fizes's parents were carpenters in the French Navy. He studied with the Jesuits, and became engineer to armies and a doctor of law. In 1682 he held the first professorship of mathematics and hydrography in Montpellier.

From 1689, he headed a school of hydrography in Frontignan. In the hall of the Town Hall, he taught a few young sailors the concepts of mathematics and astrology. But this school was previously free, and Fizes asked for a salary of 150 pounds a year, which led to a conflict with the consuls of Frontignan. The school only survived 7 years, and closed its doors in 1696.

Bibliography

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See also

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