1823
December 21 : Birth of Jean-Henri Fabre at St Léons, a small commune of the canton of Vezins, not far from Millau in Haut-Rouergue. He is the first child of Antoine Fabre and Victoire Salgues.
• John Stuart Mill is 17 years old.
• Charles Darwin is 14 years old.  

  1824
  Louis Braille, at the age of 15, invents his alphabet of 63 combinations of 6 dots.  

  1826
Fabre is sent to live with his paternal grandparents at Le Malaval.    

  1830
Fabre returns to St Léons to enter primary school. • Birth of the poet Frédéric Mistral.
• Two million children attend school in France..  

  1832
Fabre obtains a bursary to the Royal College of Rodez, where he learns Latin. Death of Baron Georges Cuvier.  

  1833
Fabre finishes his schooling at the Royal College of Rodez. • Loi Guizot : Normal schools are accredited with the training of primary school teachers.
• Death of Pierre-André Latreille, one of the founders of entomology.  

  1837
Fabre follows his family to Toulouse and enters the seminary of l'Esquile.    

  1839
Fabre works as a labourer on railroad construction sites.    

  1840
Fabre passes the examination for trainee teacher and enters the normal school of Avignon for a two-year course. He learns Greek.    

  1842
• Fabre obtains his primary teacher's diploma at the age of 19.
• He begins his teaching career at the College of Carpentras where Raspail had taught rhetoric 30 years earlier.
• He runs the school attached to the College.    

  1844
October 3 : Fabre marries Marie-Césarine Villard, also a teacher.    

  1845
July 11 : Birth of their first daughter, Elisabeth-Marie-Virginie. She will die on 30 April, 1846.    

  1846
He obtains his baccalauréat at the age of 23 -- Letters and Sciences.    

  1847
• January 22 : Birth of his son Jean-Antoine-Emile.
• Fabre obtains his degree in Mathematics.    

  1848
•  September 6 : Death of his son Jean-Antoine-Emile.
•  He obtains his degree in physics.
•  September 29 : Fabre sends his letter of resignation to the vice-
chancellor of the Académie de Nîmes. • February 25 : Proclamation of the Second Republic.
• 20 December 20 : Abolition of slavery.
• 3,5 million children attend school in France  

  1849
•  Fabre resigns from the College of Carpentras.
•  From February, he teaches physics in the Collège Fesch of Ajaccio.
On Corsica he meets Esprit Requien, the botanist, who introduces him to conchology and botany.
•  Requien introduces him to Moquin-Tendon.    

  1850
October 3 : Birth of his daughter Antonia-Andréa. March 15 : The Loi Falloux on the freedom of teaching is passed.  

  1851
He spends fifteen days with Moquin-Tendon.    

  1852
  •  January 6 : Death of Louis Braille in Paris, at the age of 43.
•  December 2 : Proclamation of the Second Empire.

  1853
•  January : Fabre returns from Corsica.
•  He is appointed professor at the Lycée d'Avignon where he teaches physics and chemistry.
•  Fabre lives at 4 rue Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, then at 22 rue de la Masse (in a house that is a replica of the old Church of Sainte-Claire) in the district Saint Dominique.
•  May 26 : Birth of his daughter Aglaë-Emilie. She will stay close to her father all her life.   Publication of the poem «Arithmos».

  1854
•  Fabre obtains his Bachelor of Natural Sciences at Toulouse.
•  He discovers the work of Léon Dufour, physician/naturalist.    

  1855
•  August 24 : Birth of his daughter Claire-Euphrasie.
•  The Fabre family moves to 14 rue des Teinturiers (street of the Dyers) in Avignon.
•  Doctorate in the Faculty of Sciences of Paris : he defends his theses before a jury including Milne-Edwards and Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.   • «Observation des moeurs des Cerceris»
(Observations on the behaviour of the Cerceris) in the «Annales des Sciences Naturelles.»
• Thesis in Botany on the «Himantoglossum Hircinum.»
• Thesis in Zoology on the Myriapodes.

  1856
• Fabre wins the Monthyon prize in experimental physiology at the Institut de France.
• He receives a letter of congratulation from Léon Dufour.   Publication of «Recherches sur la cause de la phosphorescence de l'Agaric de l'Olivier» (Researches into the cause of phosphorescence in the olive tree Agaric.)

  1857
Louis Pasteur discovers a vaccine against rabies. Publications of Fabre : «De la germination des Ophrydées et de la nature de leurs tubercules» (On the germination of the Ophrydées and the nature of their tubers), «Mémoire sur l'hypermétamorphose et les moeurs des Méloïdes» (Essay on the hypermetamorphosis and behaviour of Méloïdes), «Note sur le mode de reproduction des Truffes» (Note on the mode of reproduction of Truffles).

  1859
• He wins first prize in an open competition on the problem of the criminal adulteration of garance.
• Darwin cites Fabre's work on sphex in support of adaptability. Darwin would call Fabre «that inimitable observer.» Publication of «On the Origin of Species» by Charles Darwin, who presents evidence in support of his and A. R. Wallace's theory of evolution explaining the interconnectedness and diversity of all life, based on variation in individual organisms acted on by natural, sexual and artificial selection. Although, in the absence of evidence, he says nothing new about the origin of life itself, he outrages many superstitionists.
 

  1860
• May 11 : 1st patent for garance, additional clause on May 14.
• March 2 : 2nd patent for garance.
• November 2 : 3rd patent for garance.
• Fabre becomes acquainted with Delacour.

  1861
Fabre submits a report on alizarin to the Société d'Agriculture du Vaucluse.
April 9 : Birth of his son Jules-Andre-Henri (the birth is registered on the 11th).

  1862
First school textbook : «Chimie Agricole».

  1863
February 26 : Birth of his son François-Emile. 4.3 million children attend school in France. Publication of «l'étude sur le rôle du tissu adipeux dans la sécrétion urinaire chez les insectes» (Study on the role of fatty tissue in urinary secretion in insects).

  1865
Pasteur visits Fabre at rue des Teinturiers. • Gregor Mendel publishes his laws on heredity and founds the science of genetics.
• Accidental introduction of Phylloxera vastatrix by French nurserymen. Vines will be devastated until 1885. Publication of « La Terre » (The Earth). .

  1866
• Fabre becomes director of the Musée Requien d'Avignon; when English philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill visits the museum the two become acquainted.
• Fabre wins the Thore prize, intended to reward research into the behaviour and anatomy of insects. • Official programs for Special Secondary Education.
• Graebe and Liebermann synthe- sise artificial alizarin.

  1867
• Victor Duruy, Minister for State Education, travelling in the district, visits Fabre. Duruy instructs him to come to Paris where he presents him to Napoleon III.
• Fabre is named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour thanks to Duruy.
• The discovery of alizarin makes his patents obsolete.
• He gives evening courses for adults with great success. April 10 : the Loi Duruy gives special resources to communes to maintain free schools. Publication of « l'Histoire de la Bûche » (The History of the Log) and the school textbook « Le Ciel » (The Heavens).

  1869
Charles Cros discovers a trichromatic process of colour photography.

  1870
• Fabre's teaching methods attract animosity from clerics and conservatives.
• November : He resigns and leaves to settle in Orange with his family. Fabre is 47 years old, he is without resources but determined to succeed.
• In the years that follow he writes more than 70 books for pupils and teachers. • Franco-German war.
• September 4 : Proclamation of the Third Republic. Publications :
• Catalogue of the « Insectes Coléoptères ob- servés aux environs d'Avignon » (Coleopterous Insects observed around Avignon),
• « Les Ravageurs ». (The Spoilers)

  1871
• Complete break with the University.
• Fabre devotes himself to the writing of school textbooks. • January 28 : Signing of the armistice.
• March 18 : The Paris Commune. School textbooks :
« Astronomie »,
« Algèbre ».

  1873
• Fabre loses his position of director of the Requien Museum which had occupied him two days per week.
• He and John Stuart Mill decide to collaborate on a comprehensive flora of Vaucluse, but when Mill dies in 1876 the project does not proceed.
• He wins the silver medal of the Society for the Protection of Animals. School textbooks :
« Géométrie »,
« Les Auxiliaires ».

  1874
Fabre is dux of the Société d'instruction élémentaire.
Marriage of his daughter Antonia. School textbooks :
« Principes de composition et de style »,
« Botanique »,
« Aurore ».

  1875
The new Constitution guarantees a republican, democratic and lay regime. School textbooks :
« L'Industrie »,
« Les Serviteurs »,
« Le Ménage ».

  1876
School textbook :
« Géographie ».

  1877
September 14 : Death of his son Jules, at the age of 16. « Le Tour de France par deux enfants », (Tour of France by two Children), state school best-seller by Mme Guyau, is published under the pseudonym «G. Bruno» (Giordano Bruno, philosopher and free-thinker burned at the stake by the Inquisition in 1600).

  1878
• An atrocious winter, Fabre falls ill with pneumonia, he is believed dead but survives with new vigour.
• He wins the silver medal of the Exposition universelle. • Émile Littré invents and proposes, to the Académie de médicine, the word « microbe » for Pasteur's discoveries, hitherto termed « animalcules » or « microscopic creatures. »
• The theory of « spontaneous generation » is called into question. School textbook: « La Lecture ».

  1879
March 4 : Fabre buys the Harmas in Sérignan du Comtat. Jules Ferry is named Minister for State Education. Publication of the first series of the « Souvenirs Entomologiques ».
« Study on the behaviour of the Halictes ».
School textbook : « Cosmographie ».

  1880
The Institut de France requires him to work on phylloxera. • August 2 : New official program for secondary education.
• Loi Camille Sée : Establishment of colleges for girls.
• 5.6 million children attend school in France. School textbooks :
« Les Petites Filles »,
« Chimie »,
« Cours de Mécanique ».

  1881
June 16 : Law on exemption from fees and the obligations of schools. School textbooks :
« Les Inventeurs et leurs Inventions »,
« Lectures sur la Botanique »,
« La chimie de l'Oncle Paul ».

  1882
• April 19 : Death of Darwin.
• July 27 : New official program for primary teaching.
• Robert Koch discovers the tuberculosis bacillus.
• Pasteur saves the life of Meister, the boy bitten by a rabid dog. Series 2 of the « Souvenir Entomologiques ».
School textbooks :
« Lectures sur la Zoologie »,
« Histoire Naturelle : Géologie ».

  1883
January 1 : Establishment of the Louis Braille School in Maison-Alfort. School textbooks :
« Choix de morceaux traduits des auteurs grecs » (Selections translated from Greek authors),
« Éléments usuels des Sciences physiques et naturelles »(Common elements of the physical and natural sciences).

  1884

School textbook : « Zoologie ».

  1885
July 28 : Death of his wife Marie-Césarine.

  1886
John Pemberton, US pharmacist, develops Coca-Cola. Series 3 of the « Souvenirs Entomologiques ».

  1887
• Marriage of his daughter Claire.
• July 23 : Fabre marries Marie Joséphine Daudel.
• He becomes a correspondent of the Académie des Sciences.
• The Académie des Sciences awards him the Dolfus prize.

  1888
• September 12 : Birth of his son Paul-Henri.
• Marriage of his son François-Emile.

  1889
The Académie des sciences awards Fabre the Petit-Dormoy prize. • January 1 : Establishment of the Braille School in Saint-Mandé (with 150 pupils).
• Gustave Eiffel completes his tower on the Champ-de-Mars, the project took 50 engineers and 132 workmen to assemble 18,000 iron components with 2.5 million rivets.
School textbooks :
« Maître Paul, simples récits sur la science » (Maître Paul, simple tales of science),
« Histoire naturelles ».

  1890
March 27 : Birth of his daughter Pauline-Henriette.

  1891
June 12 : Death of his daughter Claire. Series 4 of the « Souvenirs Entomologiques ».
School textbooks :
« Premiers Éléments d'économie domestique »,
« Premiers Éléments d'Hygiène ».

  1892
Fabre becomes an honorary member of the Société d'Entomologie Belge. School textbook :
« La Plante ».

  1893
• January 17 : Death of his father at the age of 93.
• December 31 : Birth of his daughter Anna-Hélène. The last of the School textbooks : « Le Ciel ».

  1897
Series 5 of the « Souvenirs Entomologiques ».

  1898
Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium.

  1900
Series 6 of the « Souvenirs Entomologiques ».

  1901
• Edmond Rostand enters the Académie française.
• Law on associations. Series 7 of the « Souvenirs Entomologiques ».

  1902
Fabre becomes a member of the Entomological Societies of Russia, France, London and Stockholm. Foucault's demonstration of the pendulum in the Pantheon.

  1903
Fabre wins the Gegner prize of the Académie des Sciences for this year and each subsequent year until 1914. It is intended to reward a scientist distinguished by his serious work pursuing positive advances in knowledge. First controlled powered flight of an aeroplane by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA. Series 8 of the « Souvenirs Entomologiques ».

  1905
Fabre wins the Gegner prize of the Académie des Sciences. • Separation of Church and State.
• Einstein publishes his theory of special relativity. Series 9 of the « Souvenirs Entomologiques ».

  1907
• A friendship is born between Fabre and Dr. Legros who proposes to celebrate Fabre's jubilee and to make him known throughout the world.
• Fabre wins the Gegner prize of the Académie des Sciences. Series 10 of the « Souvenirs Entomologiques ».

  1909
• Fabre's school textbooks become obsolete, a catastrophe for the author.
• Fabre wins the Gegner prize of the Académie des Sciences.   Publication, in Avignon, of his collection of poems: « Oubreto provençalo dòu Felibre di Tavan ».

  1910
• April 3 : Doctor Legros initiates Fabre's Jubilee.
• Fabre receives the Linnean gold medal of the Academy of Science of Stockholm, he is a graduate member of the Institut de Genève, and Officer of the Legion of Honour.
• He wins the Alfred Née prize of the Académie Française, intended to reward the most original work in form and thought. Fabre starts to become famous.
• Fabre wins the Gegner prize of the Académie des Sciences. « Le Ciel » is translated into English : « The Heavens » by Bernard E.E. Fournier of Alba.

  1911
• Campaign to nominate Fabre for a Nobel Prize.
• Edmond Rostand publishes a sonnet : « Fabre des insectes ».
• Fabre wins the Gegner prize of the Académie des Sciences.
• Fabre receives the Mariani medal as well as a citation from the Société nationale d'Agriculture and from the Société d'acclimatation. Roald Amundsen is the first man to reach the South Pole. Translation of extracts of the « Souvenirs entomologiques » :
• In English : « Social Life in the Insect World » by Bernard Miall,
• In German : « Bilder aus der Inseltenwelt »,
• In Swedish : « Ur Insekternas Värld » by Nils Lago-Lengquist.
« Le Ciel » is translated into German : « Der Sternhimmel » by Paul Ulmer.

  1912
• July 13 : Death of his second wife Marie-Joséphine.
• Fabre wins the Gegner prize of the Académie des Sciences
• Mistral publishes an article on Fabre "le génie qui meurt de faim" (genius dying of hunger.) • Ludwig Borchardt discovers the bust of Nefertiti at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt.
• The "unsinkable" "Titanic" sinks in the Atlantic. Translation into English of extracts of the « Souvenirs entomologiques » : « The Life of the Fly » and « The Life of the Spider » by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.

  1913

• January 17 : Raymond Poincaré is elected to the presidency of the Third Republic. He visits Fabre in the Harmas. The Public Minister for Labour, J. Thierry makes a speech.
• Fabre wins the Gegner prize of the Académie des Sciences. Fabre writes a foreword for his biography : « La Vie de J.-H. Fabre, naturaliste, par un disciple » (Life of J.-H. Fabre, naturalist, by a disciple) by Dr. G. V. Legros translated into English : « Fabre, Poet of Science » by Bernard Miall.
Translation into English of extracts of the « Souvenirs entomologiques » : « The Life of the Caterpillar » by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.

  1914

• Marriage of his daughter Anna-Hélène.
• Fabre wins the Gegner prize of the Académie des Sciences. • June 28 : Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife assassinated at Sarajevo.
• August 1 : General mobilization in France.
• August 3 : Germany declares war on France. Translation into English of extracts of the «Souvenirs entomologiques»: «The Mason-wasps » and «The Mason-Bees » by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.

  1915
Fabre learns with relief of the victory of the Marne : his son Paul is among the combatants.

October 11 : Jean-Henri Fabre dies at the age of 92.