Louis Le Comte
French Jesuit and mathematician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Louis le Comte (1655–1728), also Louis-Daniel Lecomte, was a French Jesuit and mathematician who participated in the 1687 French Jesuit mission to China under Jean de Fontaney. He arrived in China on 7 February 1688.[1] He had travelled with a group of Jesuit mathematicians and scientists including Joachim Bouvet, Claude de Visdelou, Guy Tachard and Jean-François Gerbillon.[2]
He returned to France in 1691 as Procurator of the Jesuits.[3] His Nouveau mémoire sur l'état présent de la Chine, which was published in Paris in 1696, caused great debate within the Chinese Rites Controversy.[4]
By 1696, he had been appointed Mathematician to the King of France.[5]
Publications
His publications include;
- Nouveaux mémoires sur l'état présent de la Chine (Volumes 1 and 2) [6]
- Memoirs and Remarks Geographical, Historical, Topographical, Physical, Natural, Astronimocal, Mechanical, Military, Mercantile, Political, and Ecclesiastical, Made in above Ten Years Travels through The Empoire of China [6]
- Un Jésuite à Pékin: Nouveaux Mémoires De L'état Présent De La Chine, 1687-1692 [6]
- A compleat history of the empire of China [6]
- Lettre a Monseigneur Le Duc Du Mayne Sur Les Ceremonies de la Chine [6]
- Eclaircissement sur la denonciation faite a N.S.P. le Pape, des nouveaux memoires de la Chine (s.n.], 1700) (with Charles Le Gobien) [7]
- A Collection of voyages and travels [7]