Bonnet, Charles

Born in Geneva; deafened during childhood, later also suffered blindness in youth. Tormented and failing in school, his parents withdrew him and hired a private tutor, who inspired in Bonnet a passion for science. Attended the Auditoire de Belles-Lettres and then the Auditoire de Philosophie. He discovered parthenogenesis in aphids, winning him a place in the French Academy of Sciences. Researcher and author of many theoretical and philosophical papers in natural history; his scientific books are said to be the first published books ever written by a deaf person.