Joseph-Ignace Guillotin 290532 221024437 2008-06-22T18:38:23Z 92.233.101.100 {{Infobox Person |name = Joseph-Ignace Guillotin |image = Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (Musée Carnavalet).JPG |image_size = |caption = ''Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin'' ([[Musée Carnavalet]], [[Paris]] |birth_name = |birth_date = [[May 28]] [[1738]] |birth_place = [[Saintes]], [[France]] |death_date = [[March 26]] [[1814]] |death_place = |death_cause = |resting_place = |resting_place_coordinates = |residence = |nationality = [[France|French]] |other_names = |known_for = Proposing the use of the [[guillotine]] for executions |education = [[Irish College]], [[Bordeaux]]<br/>[[University of Reims]]<br/>[[University of Paris]] |employer = |occupation = [[Physician]] |spouse = |partner = |children = }} {{commons|Category:Joseph Ignace Guillotin|Joseph-Ignace Guillotin}} '''Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin''' ({{IPA2|ɡijɔtɛ̃}}; [[May 28]], [[1738]] &ndash; [[March 26]], [[1814]]) was a French [[physician]] who proposed on [[October 10]], [[1789]] the use of a mechanical device to carry out [[death penalty|death penalties]] in [[France]]. While he did not invent the [[guillotine]], his name became an [[eponym]] for it. ==Biography== Guillotin composed an essay to obtain the degree of [[master of arts]] from the [[University of Bordeaux]]. This essay impressed the [[Jesuit]]s so much that they persuaded him to enter their order and he was appointed a professor of literature at the [[Irish College]] at Bordeaux. He left however after a few years and travelled to [[Paris]] to study medicine, becoming a pupil of [[Antoine Petit]]. He gained a diploma from the faculty at [[Rheims]] in 1768 and later won a prize given by the Paris faculty, the title of Doctor-Regent. In [[1784]], when [[Franz Mesmer]] began to publicize his theory of "[[animal magnetism]]", which was considered offensive by many, [[Louis XVI]] appointed a commission to investigate it and Guillotin was appointed as a member of it along with [[Benjamin Franklin]] and others. In December 1788 Guillotin drafted a pamphlet entitled ''"Petition of the Citizens Living in Paris"'', concerning the proper constitution of the [[French States-General|States-General]]. As a result he was summoned by the French parliament to give an account of his opinions, which served to increase his popularity and on [[May 2]] [[1789]] he became one of 10 [[Paris]] deputies in the [[National Constituent Assembly|''Assemblée Constituante'']], and was secretary to the assembly from June 1789 to October 1791. As a member of the assembly Guillotin mainly directed his attention towards medical reform, and it was on [[October 10]] [[1789]], during a debate on [[capital punishment]], that he proposed that ''"the criminal shall be decapitated; this will be done solely by means of a simple mechanism."'' The "mechanism" was defined as ''"a machine that beheads painlessly"''. Despite this proposal, Guillotin was opposed to the death penalty and hoped that a more humane and less painful method of [[execution]] would be the first step toward a total abolition of the death penalty. He also hoped that fewer families and children would witness executions, and vowed to make them more private and individualized. It was also his belief that a standard death penalty by decapitation would prevent the cruel and unjust system of the day. At that time, it was customary for the wealthy and the nobility to arrange for their families to pay the executioner to guarantee a quick death. The lower classes, however, were often decapitated in several blows with a very dull sword or axe, or were executed by methods such as quartering or hanging. Dr. Guillotin assumed that if a fair system was established where the only method of [[Capital Punishment]] was death by mechanical [[decapitation]], then the public would feel far more appreciative of their rights. A few days after the debate, a comic song about Guillotin and his proposal appeared in the Royalist periodical, [[Actes des Apôtres]], which is considered to be the reason Dr. Guillotin's name became associated with the machine.<ref>{{cite journal | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Dr Guillotin | journal = Chambers's Edinburgh Journal | volume = I | issue = | pages = pp. 218–221 | publisher = | location = | date = January - June 1844 | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LLQCAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA3-PA218 | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2008-09-03}}</ref> Towards the end of [[The Terror]], Guillotin was arrested and imprisoned because of a letter from [[Count Mere]], who, about to be executed, commended his wife and children to the care of the doctor. He was freed from prison in [[1794]] after [[Robespierre]] fell from power and abandoned his political career to resume the medical profession. Guillotin became one of the first French doctors to support [[Edward Jenner]]'s discovery of [[vaccination]] and in [[1805]] was the President of the Committee for Vaccination in Paris. He was also one of the founders of the [[Academy of Medicine]] of Paris. ===Death=== Contrary to popular belief, Guillotin did not die on the machine given his name, but instead died a natural death in Paris on [[May 26]] [[1814]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title = GUILLOTIN (JOSEPH-IGNACE) | encyclopedia = Biographie universelle (Michaud) ancienne et moderne | volume = XVIII | pages = pp. 206 - 207 | publisher = Madame C. Desplaces | date = 1857 | id = | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=690bAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA206 | accessdate = 2008-03-09}}</ref> (some modern sources give March 26) at the age of 76, according to some sources from a [[carbuncle]] on the left shoulder.<ref>{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Joseph Ignace Guillotin | work = | publisher = whonamedit.com | date = | url = http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2275.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-03-09}}</ref> ==Trivia== * The association with the Guillotine so embarrassed Dr. Guillotin's family that they petitioned the French government to rename it; when the government refused, they instead changed their own family name. * According to [[Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable]] a person named Guillotin was indeed executed by the guillotine - he was J.M.V. Guillotin, a doctor of [[Lyons]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Brewer | first = Ebenezer Cobham | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | publisher = [[Harper & Row]] | date = 1970 | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = }}</ref> ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{1911}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Guillotin, Joseph-Ignace}} [[Category:Former Jesuits]] [[Category:1738 births]] [[Category:1814 deaths]] [[Category:French inventors]] [[Category:French physicians]] [[Category:French politicians]] [[cs:Joseph Ignace Guillotin]] [[da:Joseph Ignace Guillotin]] [[de:Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]] [[el:Ζοζέφ Ινιάς Γκιγιοτέν]] [[es:Joseph Ignace Guillotin]] [[fr:Joseph Ignace Guillotin]] [[id:Joseph Ignace Guillotin]] [[is:Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]] [[it:Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]] [[nl:Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]] [[ja:ジョゼフ・ギヨタン]] [[no:Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]] [[pl:Joseph Ignace Guillotin]] [[pt:Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]] [[ro:Joseph Ignace Guillotin]] [[ru:Гильотен, Жозеф Игнас]] [[fi:Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]] [[sv:Joseph Guillotin]] [[tr:Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]] [[uk:Ґійотен Жозеф]]