The family also included two other brothers, Georges, who would become a lawyer like his father and go onto great success as a member of the Grand Conseil in Paris, and Guillaume, who became a priest and served in the court of the King of France.

This combination of theoretical and scientific analysis made many of Du Hamel's contemporaries see him and his work as a link between theology and the new ideas of science.

At the same time, he is also busy in his study of natural philosophy and science, writing one of his most famous works, De Consensu Veteris er Novae Philosophiae, in 1663.

Du Hamel possesses many qualities that Colbert was looking for in a secretary for the group: he could read and write well in Latin, which would allow for communication with other scholars in Europe, he had recently published well-received works, he did not have any residual political alliance from the Fronte rebellions, and he had not participated in the handful of private academies that preceded the founding of the Académie des Sciences.

Du Hamel also attributed the theories espoused by the book as representative of the ideas of the Academie, rather than just his own, allowing the Académie and its principals to touch students and promote and popularized science in the educated parts of French society.

[9] Specifically, his sterling reputation and his command of Latin caused him to be appointed as a member of the French delegation at Aix-la-Chapelle, negotiating a peace with Spain after the War of Devolution.

[12] Du Hamel also began to devote himself more reverently to his religious work, stepping back from scientific studies, except for his continued efforts toward writing and publishing a history of the Académie (in Latin).

He completed his history of the group (Regiae Scientiarum Academiae Historia) in 1698, shortly after being replaced as secretary by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle.