Pascal Brioist

About the creator

Pascal Brioist (Abbeville, 17 September 1962) is a French historian. He is a specialist in Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance, and the science and technology of the modern era. Brioist has written several books on the Italian genius.

He studied in preparatory classes at the Lycées Chaptal and Jules Ferry, then earned a double degree in history and philosophy at the Sorbonne. He went on to complete a master’s degree in history under the supervision of Daniel Roche and Marcel Lachiver with a thesis titled La sociabilité dans le Vimeu au XVIIIe siècle. He obtained the CAPES in history and geography in 1985. Awarded a Lavoisier scholarship, he studied at the European University Institute in Florence, where he completed a dissertation supervised by Daniel Roche and Dominique Julia. In 1993, he earned his PhD with a thesis entitled Les cercles intellectuels à Londres de 1580 à 1680. The following year, in 1994, he obtained the agrégation externe d’histoire. He currently teaches at the University of Tours and at the Centre d’études supérieures de la Renaissance. Since 2013, he has also served as Vice-President of the CAPES in history and geography.

Pascal Brioist is a recognized expert on Leonardo da Vinci. He dedicated a book to him in 2013, Léonard de Vinci, homme de guerre, focusing on Leonardo’s activity as an engineer and scientist in the military field. In 2019 he published Les audaces de Léonard de Vinci, and in 2011 he wrote a special issue of Documentation photographique entitled Léonard de Vinci: arts, sciences et techniques. In 2002, he was in charge of the scientific design of the park at the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise, dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci. He also oversaw the republication of Leonardo’s notebooks, published by Gallimard in October 2019 to mark the 500th anniversary of his death. In 2015, he organized a commemoration for King Francis I, re-enacting the staging of the Battle of Marignano designed by Leonardo in 1518.

Brioist is also a specialist in the Renaissance and in the history of science and technology in the modern era.