He translated some of Franklin's early experimental work into French in 1762 and published it in Gazette d'Epidaure, his medical journal.

[1] Barbeu-Dubourg's "umbrella-lightning rod", an umbrella fitted with a tall spike and trailing chain, was designed to give the same protection for gentlemen as was sought by ladies of the time who wore lightning conductors on their hats.

As Streeter Bass recounts, "He was too old, he lacked business acumen, and – more serious in a venture of this nature – he was insecure and garrulous.

"[9] Barbeu-Dubourg wrote the article ″Chronologique″ for the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert.

The Chronographie universelle & details qui en dependent pour la Chronologie & les Genealogies abbreviated to Carte chronographique was the first synchronoptical visualisation which attempted to map world history from the Garden of Eden to the Age of Enlightenment.