This weekend, we decided to visit Versailles during their summer light show. We watched fireworks, saw the king’s mirror pool, and marveled at the couture worn by the annual ball-goers. Versailles was the former home of Louis XIV, who was a rather avid patron of sciences. At the onset of the 18th century, King Louis XIV sponsored the career of Raymond de Vieussens, an anatomist with an interest in neuroanatomy, particularly neuro-ophthalmology. Vieussens provided valuable discoveries on the structure and function of the spinal cord, visual pathway, and brainstem. King Louis XIV admired Vieussens work and provided him an annual grant of 1,000 livres, which was quite a bit of money for the time. It was incredibly interesting to see the gardens where such a patron of arts and sciences would promenade.
References: Ghosh, S. K., Priya, A., & Narayan, R. K. (2021). Raymond de Vieussens (1641–1715): Connoisseur of cardiologic anatomy and pathological forms thereof. Anatomy & Cell Biology, 54(4), 417–423. https://doi.org/10.5115/acb.21.108
