Joseph Plateau Biography
Plateau was born in Brussels. His father, Antoine Plateau (fr) born in Tournai, was a talented flower painter. At the age of six, the younger Plateau already could read, making him a child prodigy in those times. While attending primary school, he was particularly impressed by a lesson of physics; enchanted by the experiments he observed, he vowed to discover their secrets someday. Plateau spent his school holidays in Marche-Les-Dames, with his uncle and his family; his cousin and playfellow was Auguste Payen, who later became an architect and the principal designer of the Belgian railways. At the age of fourteen, he lost his father and mother; the trauma caused by this loss made him fall ill.
On 27 August 1840, Plateau married Augustine–Thérèse–Aimée–Fanny Clavareau, and they had a son a year later. His daughter Alice Plateau married Gustave Van der Mensbrugghe [nl] in 1871, who became his collaborator and later his first biographer.
Plateau became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1872.
Plateau died in Ghent in 1883.
Plateau was born in Brussels. His father, Antoine Plateau (fr) born in Tournai, was a talented flower painter. At the age of six, the younger Plateau already could read, making him a child prodigy in those times. While attending primary school, he was particularly impressed by a lesson of physics; enchanted by the experiments he observed, he vowed to discover their secrets someday. Plateau spent his school holidays in Marche-Les-Dames, with his uncle and his family; his cousin and playfellow was Auguste Payen, who later became an architect and the principal designer of the Belgian railways. At the age of fourteen, he lost his father and mother; the trauma caused by this loss made him fall ill.
On 27 August 1840, Plateau married Augustine–Thérèse–Aimée–Fanny Clavareau, and they had a son a year later. His daughter Alice Plateau married Gustave Van der Mensbrugghe [nl] in 1871, who became his collaborator and later his first biographer.
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Plateau became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1872.
Plateau died in Ghent in 1883.