Arthur de Gobineau
A 19th-century French diplomat whose pseudoscientific treatise on racial hierarchy provided a foundational text for later white supremacist ideologies.
1816–1882 (age 66)·French diplomat and writer·Birthday: July 14
Biography
Joseph Arthur de Gobineau was a man of aristocratic pretensions living through a century of democratic upheaval, and his writing sought to explain the tumult through a warped lens of biology. As a diplomat, he served in posts from Persia to Brazil, cultivating a worldview that mixed observation with profound prejudice. His infamous 'Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races' argued that history's decline was caused by racial mixing, positioning the 'Aryan' race as a pure, creative force destined to be diluted. While largely ignored or criticized by mainstream French academics, his ideas found a receptive and devastating audience decades later in Germany, where they were adopted and amplified by Nazi ideologues. Gobineau's legacy is thus one of toxic intellectual influence, a reminder of how a theory crafted to justify one era's social anxieties can be weaponized in another.
#1 When Arthur Was Born
The biggest hits of 1816
Arthur's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1816Born
1821Started school
1829Became a teenager
1832Could drive
1834Could vote
1837Turned 21
1846Turned 30
1856Turned 40
1866Turned 50
President: Andrew Johnson
1876Turned 60
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1882Died at 66
First electrical power plant opens in New York
President: Chester A. Arthur
Key Achievements
- He authored the four-volume 'Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races' (1853–1855).
- He served as a French diplomat, including a term as Minister to Persia.
- His theories of Aryan supremacy directly influenced later Nazi racial ideology.
Did You Know?
He was a close friend and correspondent of the philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville.
He wrote novels and works on Oriental religions alongside his racial theories.
He believed the white race originated in Central Asia, not Scandinavia.
He was made a Count by the Pope in 1876 based on a disputed family claim.
“I have convinced myself that everything great, noble, and fruitful in the works of man on this earth derives from a single starting point; it belongs to one family alone, the different branches of which have reigned in all the civilized countries of the universe.”
