Abauzit Firmin

Abauzit, Firmin, theologian and mathematician, was born in Languedoc, 1679, and said to have been of Arab origin. He fled with his mother to Geneva at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, went early to Holland, and met Bayle; thence he passed over to England, and became the friend of Newton, who esteemed him so highly as to consider him fit to settle the differences between himself and Leibnitz. Returning to Geneva, he assisted in translating the New Testament, and was appointed Public Librarian (1727). Rousseau and Voltaire speak highly of his learning. His works deal chiefly with theological subjects. He died in 1767.