Mariotte was born at Dijon in France. A priest, he was prior of Saint-Martin-sous-Beaune and also a founder member of the French Academy of Sciences.

In 1662 Robert Boyle had stated his law that the pressure and volume of a gas are inversely proportional. In 1676 Mariotte formulated the law quite independently, deriving it in a less inductive manner than Boyle. More importantly, he stated that the law holds only if there is no change in temperature, as he realized that a gas expands with an increase in temperature and contracts with a fall. Mariotte also investigated a large number of other topics connected with pressure. He performed some of the earliest experiments on the physiology of plants showing the high pressure of the sap. In France, Boyle's law is naturally referred to as Mariotte's law.