Jean Henri Fabre; July 1994; Scientific American Magazine; by Pasteur; 7 Page(s)

Much of the general public has forgotten the entomologist and author Jean Henri Fabre, yet during the 19th and early 20th centuries, he was one of the most celebrated educators on the subject of nature. Victor Hugo once called him the "Homer of insects." Edmond Rostand rebaptized him the "Virgil of insects." Toward the end of his life, Fabre was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature; the overenthusiasm of his supporters, who pestered the Swedish Academy, may have ruined whatever chance he had.

Today Fabre is most widely remembered by the people of Japan. Exhibitions about him are commonplace there, and schools frequently use his works as references. Since 1923 the Japanese publishing market has featured no fewer than 47 complete or partial translations of Fabre's 10-volume compendium entitled Souvenirs entomologiques (Entomological Memories), as well as editions of his other books.