Life

He was abbot of the priory of Cuers

Cuers

Cuers is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-External links:****...

 and a royal librarian.. He was named to the Académie des sciences in 1669 and elected a member of the Académie française

Académie française

L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...

 in 1672. Also a member of the Académie des Inscriptions, he became its permanent secretary. He was professor of mathematics, then of Greek, at the Collège Royal

Collège de France

The Collège de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Écoles...

, from 1686; the king named him its inspector, and at the same time he was elected syndic by its assembly of professors.

He was co-founder with Denis de Sallo

Denis de Sallo

Denis de Sallo, Sieur de la Coudraye [pseudonym Sieur d'Hédonville] , French writer, and founder of the first French literary and scientific journal, was born at Paris....

 of the Journal des sçavans, and directed its publication from 1666 to 1674. Readers of the Journal found Sallo outrageously lacking in respectfulness, while also complaining of review articles by Gallois as no more than bland compilations.

Voltaire

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

 called him a universal scholar, and commented on the Latin lessons he was supposed to have given Colbert

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

Jean-Baptiste Colbert was a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister. He achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing...

 in his carriage, travelling between Versailles and Paris.

Works

His Breviarium Colbertinum was published in 1679. An English translation appeared in 1912-3.

External links

Biography at the Académie française

• Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle : Éloge de M. l'abbé Gallois (1707)