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Happy Birthday, Fulcanelli

Signs of the Times
16 November 2006

On this day in 1841, in the French town of Langres, was born Jules Violle, celebrated French physicist, member of the French Academy of Sciences, and alchemist. Better known under his pen name Fulcanelli, Jules Violle wrote two important alchemical texts, The Mystery of the Cathedrals and The Dwellings of the Philosophers, as well as leaving the notes for a third volume, Finis Gloriae Mundi, a work that was withdrawn before publication.

Although there has been much speculation since the publication of these two books over the true identity of the Master Alchemist Fulcanelli, with answers ranging from his non-existence as an individual (according to this hypothesis, Fulcanelli was in fact a committee!), to his being a member of the Parisian occult circles of the late 19th and early 20th century, Patrick Rivière has settled the case in his book Fulcanelli: His True Identity Revealed. With painstaking research and ample evidence taken from the career of this illustrious French scientist, it is clear that not only did Fulcanelli exist, but that he was a physicist of great repute.

Violle achieved his fame via his work on solar radiation and the establishment of the unit of luminous intensity which bears his name: the Violle. His research on the solar constant and atmospheric absorption led him to consider that the Sun's temperature was much lower than thought at the time, arguing that the higher the altitude, the less dense the atmosphere and lower the temperature. And this is precisely what Fulcanelli wrote in the following terms, in The Dwellings of the Philosophers:
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posted by ... @ 4:56 PM