CalendarZ

  1. Home
  2. On This Day
  3. August
  4. 4
  5. Nicolas-Jacques Conté

Births on August 4

Nicolas-Jacques Conté
1755Aug, 4

Nicolas-Jacques Conté

Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French soldier, painter, balloonist, and inventor (d. 1805)
Nicolas-Jacques Conté (4 August 1755 – 6 December 1805) was a French painter, balloonist, army officer, and inventor of the modern pencil.He was born at Saint-Céneri-près-Sées (now Aunou-sur-Orne) in Normandy and distinguished himself for his mechanical genius, which was of great avail to the French army in Egypt. Napoleon called him “a universal man with taste, understanding and genius capable of creating the arts of France in the middle of the Arabian Desert”.

References

Choose Another Date

Events on 1755

  • 15Apr

    A Dictionary of the English Language

    Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London.
  • 9Jul

    Battle of the Monongahela

    The Braddock Expedition is soundly defeated by a smaller French and Native American force in its attempt to capture Fort Duquesne in what is now downtown Pittsburgh.
  • 25Jul

    Expulsion of the Acadians

    British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians.
  • 10Aug

    Expulsion of the Acadians

    Under the orders of Charles Lawrence, the British Army begins to forcibly deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the Thirteen Colonies.
  • 1Nov

    1755 Lisbon earthquake

    In Portugal, Lisbon is totally devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between 60,000 and 90,000 people.