Famous revolutionaries

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin

French doctor
Date of Birth:
Country: France

Content:
  1. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin: A Life Beyond the Guillotine
  2. Education and Early Career
  3. Involvement in the Mesmer Controversy
  4. Political Involvement and Proposal for Guillotine
  5. Guillotine and the Reign of Terror
  6. Death and Legacy

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin: A Life Beyond the Guillotine

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a French physician and inventor, became inadvertently associated with the infamous guillotine, a device named after him but which he had only a tangential connection to.

Education and Early Career

Born in , Guillotin obtained his master's degree through a dissertation presented to the University of Bordeaux.

Dr joseph ignace guillotine biography of mahatma It is only recently that the true history of this man, and of the machine which bore his name, has been completed; first, by the discovery in of some documents in the Hotel de Ville of Paris, and next by a pamphlet, written by M. One was immediately ordered and made for each province or department. Guillotin had wanted executions to be held privately, but that was contrary to all tradition and crowds gathered to watch them, including the tricoteuses , the women who knitted busily while the heads rolled. The case, very characteristic in all its circumstances, was this: —There were three brothers of a respectable family in Paris, of the name of Agasse, the two eldest of whom— printers and proprietors of the Moniteur—were-convicted of forgery of bank-notes, and sentenced to be hanged.

His work impressed the Jesuits, who recruited him into their order. After a brief stint as a professor of literature at the Irish College of Bordeaux, Guillotin relocated to Paris to study medicine under Antoine Petit. In , he became a licensed physician and later earned the prestigious title of Doctor-Regent in Paris.

Involvement in the Mesmer Controversy

In , Franz Mesmer introduced his theory of "animal magnetism," which sparked controversy.

Louis XVI formed a commission, including Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Guillotin, to investigate its claims.

Political Involvement and Proposal for Guillotine

Guillotin gained public attention in for a pamphlet criticizing the structure of the Estates-General. He subsequently served as a delegate to the Estates-General in and was appointed as its secretary.

Dr joseph ignace guillotine biography of mahatma gandhi Died 26 Mar at age 75 in Paris, Seine, France. Although he did not invent the guillotine and opposed the death penalty, his name became an eponym for it. Their condemnation excited great public interest, from the youth and previous respectability of the parties. A public dinner of six hundred National Guards was got up in their honour; numerous philanthropic toasts were drunk; and then [p.

During the debate on capital punishment on October 10, , Guillotin proposed the use of a simple machine for beheading, arguing that it would be more humane and instantaneous than traditional methods.

Guillotine and the Reign of Terror

The development of the guillotine fell to Antoine Louis and the executioner Charles-Henri Sanson, who based their design on Guillotin's proposal but borrowed from existing devices.

Guillotin's name became synonymous with the machine, but he had limited involvement in its creation. During the Reign of Terror, Guillotin was arrested for refusing to cooperate with authorities and imprisoned. He was released after Robespierre's fall in and retired from politics, devoting himself to medicine.

Death and Legacy

Contrary to popular legend, Guillotin did not die by guillotine.

The last person executed by guillotine in France was a murderer in and the death penalty was abolished in France in The Directory [of the department of Paris] is unfortunately about to be called upon to determine the mode of decapitation which will be henceforward employed for the execution of the third article of the penal code. The case, very characteristic in all its circumstances, was this: —There were three brothers of a respectable family in Paris, of the name of Agasse, the two eldest of whom— printers and proprietors of the Moniteur—were-convicted of forgery of bank-notes, and sentenced to be hanged. The fact is, that the first guillotine was not constructed till three years afterwards, and with the making of it Guillotin had nothing whatever to do!

He passed away from natural causes in The erroneous belief that he met such a fate may be attributed to the existence of at least one namesake who was executed via guillotine.

Guillotin's legacy is a complex one. While he did not invent the guillotine, his proposal sparked a debate about the humaneness of capital punishment.

The guillotine itself became a symbol of revolutionary violence, but Guillotin's ultimate goal was to abolish capital punishment, not promote it.