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He was born in Provence (France) on March 18th, 1800. His parents were Jean Gay and Therese Mouret. At the age of 18 he was sent to Paris by his father to course higher education studies in Medicine and Pharmacy. However, Gay quickly abandoned said studies and decided on Botany.

He was a gatherer for the museum of Natural History of Paris, where he had the chance to travel and get to know the French Alps, the north of Italy, part of Greece, a few Mediterranean Islands and sectors of Asia Minor.

In 1828, the adventurous doctor Pedro Chapuis offered him the chance to travel to Chile and work as a teacher, arriving to our country at the end of that same year. In 1829, he began his teaching work as a Geography teacher at the Colegio de Santiago (Santiago School), and at the same time de devoted himself to research the area surrounding the capitol.

One year later he was awarded a contract with the government of Chile to take a three and a half year scientific trip around the country to account for its natural resources (flora, fauna, geography, etc.) and then put together a cadastre for the State.
In 1839, faced with the proposition by minister of Instruction Mariano Egaña, Gay accepted to write the Political and Physical History of Chile. In 1841 he concluded his investigations, obtaining nationality by grace for his valuable compilation.

In 1842 Gay traveled to France and published the first volume of this work two years later. As of then and until 1870, the following 29 volumes of his work appeared.

In 1863 he returned to Chile, where he was received with honors by president Jose Joaquin Perez and the National Congress granted him a lifetime income of 2,000 pesos. A t the end of that same year, he returned to France, passing away on November 29th, 1873 in his home town.


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