Diderot, Denis

French author and philosopher born in the city of Langres in north-east France. He was the son of a wealthy knife maker and a gifted child, but all attempts at persuading him to choose an education that would lead to a secure job failed. When Diderot was twenty-three years old, his father lost patience and stopped paying for his son's pleasurable but desultory Paris education. What he did during the next few years is shrouded in mystery. All we know is that he made a living as a translator and tutor and that his life was far from bohemian. He continued his education independently, and he studied a wide variety of subjects including English, classical literature, mathematics and natural sciences. It was during this period that he laid the foundation of the universal knowledge that would eventually grant him the position of chief editor of one of the most impressive encyclopaedic projects in the history of literature, his great Encyclopédie.