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'''Jean Rey''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ ʁɛ}}; c. 1583 – c. 1645) or (''in English'') '''John Rey''' was a French physician and chemist.

Born in [[Le Bugue]], in the [[Périgord]] ([[Dordogne]] ''[[département]]''), he studied medicine at the [[University of Montpellier]]. He practised medicine in his native town and corresponded with [[René Descartes]] and [[Marin Mersenne]].

He discovered that the weight of [[lead]] and [[tin]] increases when they are [[calcinated]], and attributed this phenomenon to the weight of [[Atmosphere of Earth|air]], which he believed to become denser when heated (''Essays'', 1630).<ref name="Lavoisier">{{cite web |title=work of Lavoisier : Chapter 2 |url=http://historyofscience.free.fr/Lavoisier-Friends/a_chap2_lavoisier.html#method |website=historyofscience.free.fr |access-date=19 January 2023}}</ref> He explained the greater weight of calcinated lead and tin by supposing that calcination involves the incorporation of air in the metal. This hypothesis would later be confirmed by [[Antoine Lavoisier]], over a century later in 1789.

His discovery of the weight of air also made possible the invention of the [[barometer]] by [[Evangelista Torricelli]] in 1643. He also developed a device called a "Thermoscope", a precursor of the [[thermometer]].

Jean Rey died in [[Le Bugue]], where he had lived all his life. The exact date of his death is disputed.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.shap.fr/BSHAP/BSHAP_1975-3.pdf|title=Un héritier des chercheurs de la Renaissance : Jean Rey médecin au Bugue|journal=Bulletin de la Société historique et archéologique du Périgord|year=1975|pages=229–238|language=fr|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918012403/https://www.shap.fr/BSHAP/BSHAP_1975-3.pdf|archive-date=18 September 2018}}</ref>

==References==
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{{Wikiquote|John Rey}}
{{short description|French chemist}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2020}}
{{expand French|topic=bio|Jean Rey (chimiste)|date=July 2020}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rey, Jean}}
[[Category:1580s births]]
[[Category:1640s deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century French chemists]]
[[Category:17th-century French physicians]]
[[Category:People from Dordogne]]


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