Charles François Du Fay (14.09.1698-16.07.1739) was a French physicist and a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1723). He was born in Paris. He was director of the Botanical Garden (from 1732).
His research was in the field of electricity, optics, mechanics, liquids, heat and magnetism. In 1733 he discovered the existence of two kinds of electricity, which he called “vitreous” and “resinous” electricity. The first appears on glass, rock crystal, precious stones, hair, wool and the like; the second on amber, silk, paper and others. In doing so he established that like electricities repel one another and unlike ones attract. He was the first to electrify a human body and to “draw” electric sparks from it. To detect and crudely measure electricity he used Gilbert's versorium, which he made much more sensitive. He was the first to express the idea that lightning and thunder are electrical in nature (1735). He studied magnetic phenomena, phosphorescence and double refraction in crystals.