Robert Francois Laugier (1722-1793): a Lorraine physician in Europe of the lights

Robert François Laugier was born in Nancy in 1722. He was the son of an apothecary who began an apprenticeship in this field, but then became a medical student. His thesis, in 1748, was on a subject in chemistry. Interested in botany, he went to Vienna, at the request of the last Duke of Lorraine, to direct the botanical garden. He had an important place in the Imperial court and was professor at the University until 1769. On his return to Nancy in 1769, he was elected to the local academy and may then have gone to Strasbourg. He became a professor at the University of Modena and died in Reggio in 1793. Robert (de) Laugier is remembered by his book, well known in pharmaceutical bibliography, Institutiones pharmaceuticae sive philosophia pharmaceutica, which appeared in 1788 and 1793, and by his work to improve the design of the alembic.