Geographical classification

Europe > France

Socio-cultural movements

Groups by dedication

Technologists > Inventors

Scientists > Biologists > Zoologists

Plastic, visual and performing artists > Graphic artists

Writers > Essayists

Character
Retrato

Jeanne Villepreux-Power

Juillac 24-09-1794 ‖ Juillac 25-01-1871

Period of activity: From 1839 until 1867

Geographical classification: Europe > France

Socio-cultural movements

Groups by dedication

Technologists > Inventors

Scientists > Biologists > Zoologists

Plastic, visual and performing artists > Graphic artists

Writers > Essayists

Context of feminine creation

Jeanne Villepreux-Power (1794-1871) was a contemporary of the great Scottish mathematician and science populariser Mary Somerville and Nancy Maria Donaldson Johnson, who obtained the first patent in the United States in 1843 for her hand-operated ice-cream machine.  

Jeanne produced exquisite illustrations of the species she studied and the observations she made about them, as did other scientists such as Marya Sybilla de Meriam (1647-1717), an entomologist who illustrated and demonstrated the development of metamorphosis in insects, and Eleanor Ormerod (1828-1901), whose drawings helped farmers and ranchers to identify harmful insects and the effects they produced.

Throughout history, the field of biology and natural sciences has been plagued by women researchers, such as Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), who was one of the most versatile and influential women of the Middle Ages in 12th century Western Europe. Mystic, abbess, theologian, writer of scientific books on plants and minerals and their healing powers, as well as on the workings of the human body, anatomy teacher Anna Morandi Manzolini (1716-1774).  Laura Bassi (1711-1778) who fostered the constitution of a network of experimenters that connected Italy with the scientific culture of France and England.

Since the end of the 19th century there have been many women dedicated to science, such as Marie Curie (1867-1934), a pioneer in the study of radioactivity, with two Nobel Prizes, one in physics and the other in chemistry, Rachel Carson (1907-1964), a marine biologist, zoologist and writer, Rosalind Elsie Franklin (1920-1958) British chemist and crystallographer whose work was fundamental to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, carbon and graphite.

Review

She can be considered a marine biologist and naturalist. She was the first person to use aquariums for research in marine environments. She created different aquariums with various materials depending on the size of the molluscs under study. She proved that the argonaut, a cephalopod of tropical and subtropical waters, secretes its own shell, settling an open question at the time.
An antecedent to aquaculture can be found in her work, as she was a pioneer in raising fingerlings to repopulate rivers where the fish had disappeared.
She became the first female member of the Catania Academy and the Zoological Society of London. Her work has been recognized as one of the most important in Europe in her field.

Justifications

  • She is known as the woman who invented the aquarium in 1832 and the mother of fishkeeping.
  • Her interest in the observation and study of marine species led her to create a structure in which to carry out her observations.
  • She was the forerunner of marine biology stations and the study of aquariums.

Biography

Jeanne Villepreux was the eldest daughter of a shoemaker from the little French town of Juillac. Villepreux was born at a time when thousands of people were being guillotined in France under Robespierre. In her childhood she received a basic education, consisting of knowing how to read and write. Her training was completely self-taught.

When Villepreux turned 18, she decided to leave her hometown for Paris. The journey of about 400 kilometers was made on foot. In Paris, she began working in a sewing workshop attended by ladies from the Parisian high society. She achieved great social recognition when she made the wedding dress for the future Duchess of Berry, a Sicilian princess who married a nephew of King Louis XVIII in 1816. 
Thanks to the making of this bridal design, she met the English nobleman and businessman, James Power, who would later become her husband and with whom she moved to Sicily. In this place, interest in the oceans awoke in Villepreux and it was there that she began and developed her research for twenty years, in which she collected numerous specimens, made drawings of the species she studied and wrote numerous observations about them.

In 1843, Jeanne Villepreux-Power and her husband decided to move to London, dividing their time between London and Paris. On one of the couple's trips, the ship that was carrying most of Jeanne's collection, notes and drawings, was shipwrecked, destroying all her work. After this disaster, Jeanne abandoned her research, although she continued to write and publish.
During the Franco-Prussian War,  in the winter of 1870-1871, Paris was besieged by the Prussian army, who tried to starve the city to force its surrender. This fact made Jeanne flee the capital and return to her native home in Juillac. Shortly after, she passed away.

Works

  • Observations et expériences physiques sur plusieurs animaux marins et terrestres ,1839
  • Guida per la Sicilia, 1842
  • Observations physiques sur le poulpe de l'Argonauta argo. 1856
  • Observations et expériences physiques sur la Bulla lignaria, l'Asterias, l'Octopus vulgaris et la Pigna nobilis, la reproduction des testacés univalves marins, du Crustacé poweri , de la martre commune , d'une tortue , de l'Argonauta argo , etc 1861
  • Observations sur l'origine des corps météoriques, aérolithes, bolides. 1867

Bibliography

Didactic approach

-Biology-geology of 3rd of ESO. She could also be studied in the block of ecosystems of 4th of ESO.

-Given the quality of her drawings, it could be interesting to use her work in artistic areas.

Documents