Émilie du Châtelet

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Émilie du Châtelet
Émilie du Châtelet

Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Châtelet (December 17, 1706 – September 10, 1749) was a French mathematician, physicist, and author.

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[edit] Scientific research and publications

In 1737, Châtelet published a paper entitled Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu, based upon her research into the science of fire, that predicted what is today known as infra-red radiation and the nature of light. Her book Institutions de Physique (“Lessons in Physics”) appeared in 1740; it was presented as a review of new ideas in science and philosophy to be studied by her thirteen-year-old son, but it incorporated and sought to reconcile complex ideas from the leading thinkers of the time. In it she combined the theories of Gottfried Leibniz and the practical observations of Willem 's Gravesande to show that the energy of a moving object is proportional to its mass and the square of its velocity (E ∝ mv²), and not directly proportional, as had previously been believed by Newton, Voltaire and others. The exact formula was later shown to be Ek = (1/2) mv², where Ek is the kinetic energy of an object, m its mass and v its velocity.

In the year of her death, she completed the work regarded as her outstanding achievement: her translation into French, with her own commentary, of Newton’s Principia Mathematica, including her derivation from its principles of mechanics the notion of conservation of energy.

In the frontispiece to their translation of Newton, du Châtelet is depicted as the muse of Voltaire, reflecting Newton's heavenly insights down to Voltaire.
In the frontispiece to their translation of Newton, du Châtelet is depicted as the muse of Voltaire, reflecting Newton's heavenly insights down to Voltaire.

[edit] Early life

Her father was Louis Nicolas le Tonnelier de Breteuil, the Principal Secretary and Introducer of Ambassadors to Louis XIV, whose position placed him at the center of social activity in the court, and thus gave the family great status. Among their acquaintances was Fontenelle, the perpetual secretary of the French Académie des Sciences. Her mother, Gabrielle Anne de Froulay, was brought up in a convent.

Émilie de Breteuil was a rather awkward child who showed no signs of growing up to be beautiful, so she was given lessons in fencing, riding, and gymnastics in an attempt to improve her coordination. She was remarkably well educated for the time, and by the age of twelve she was fluent in Latin, Italian, Greek and German; she was later to publish translations into French of Greek and Latin plays and philosophy. She received education in mathematics, literature and science. She also liked to dance, was a passable performer on the harpsichord, sang opera, and was an amateur actress. She was at times a high-stakes gambler, using her mathematical skills to lay out strategy. She lost 84,000 francs (the equivalent of a million dollars today)—some of it borrowed—in one evening at the table at Fontainebleau, probably to card cheats.[1][2]

[edit] Marriage and liaisons

On 20 June 1725 she married the Marquis Florent-Claude du Chastellet, and thus became Marquise du Chastellet (the spelling Châtelet was introduced by Voltaire, and has now become standard). Like many marriages among the nobility, theirs was an arranged marriage. The couple had little in common, but the proprieties were observed in accordance with contemporary mores. After bearing three children, Émilie, considering her marital responsibilities fulfilled, made an agreement with her husband to live separate lives while still maintaining one household. The Marquis was a military man and governor of Semur-en-Auxois in Burgundy, whereas Émilie remained enthralled by the splendour of the royal court. In the upper classes of France at the time, it was acceptable for both the husband and wife to have a lover.

[edit] Introduction to Newton's ideas

At the age of twenty-four Émilie du Châtelet had an affair with the Duc de Richelieu that lasted for a year and a half. The Duc was interested in literature and philosophy, and Châtelet was one of the few women who could converse with him on his own level. She read every book of consequence, attended the theater regularly, and enjoyed intellectual debate. Châtelet expressed an interest in the works of Isaac Newton, and Richelieu encouraged her to take lessons in higher mathematics to better understand his theories. Moreau de Maupertuis, a member of the Academy of Sciences, became Châtelet's tutor in geometry. He was a mathematician, astronomer and physicist, and supported Newton's theories, which were a topic of hot debate at the Academy.

Émilie and Voltaire, the fourth of her lovers after her marriage, met after he returned from his exile in London.[2] Châtelet invited him to live in her country house at Cirey-sur-Blaise in Haute-Marne, north-eastern France, and she became his long-time companion (under the eyes of her tolerant husband). There she studied physics and mathematics and published scientific articles and translations. To judge from Voltaire's letters to friends and their commentaries on each other's work, they lived together with great mutual liking and respect.

Châtelet's last affair proved to be fatal. In her early 40s, she had an affair with the poet Jean François de Saint-Lambert and became pregnant. In a letter to a friend she confided her fears that, because of her age, she would not survive her confinement. Châtelet bore the child, but died three days later from an embolism at the age of 42.

Voltaire, in a letter to his friend King Frederick II of Prussia, declared that du Châtelet was "a great man whose only fault was being a woman".[2][3]

[edit] Modern assessment

Although the classical mechanics of du Châtelet are not to be compared with Einstein's concept of mass and velocity,[4] in his famous equation for the energy equivalent of matter E = mc² (where c represents the velocity of light) modern biographers and historians persist in seeing a neat accord with the principle E ∝ mv² first recognised by du Chatelet from over 150 years before.[5][6] It should be emphasized, however, that from a physical point of view, du Chatelet's principle is a correct assessment (up to a factor of 1/2) of the kinetic energy in classical mechanics, and is unrelated to Einstein's Mass–energy equivalence.

Today du Châtelet's translation of Principia Mathematica is still the standard translation of the work into French. A crater on Venus has been named in her honour.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hamel, Frank (1910). An Eighteenth Century Marquise: A Study of Émilie Du Châtelet and Her Times. London: Stanley Paul and Company, p 286. 
  2. ^ a b c Bodanis, David (2006-10-10). Passionate Minds: The Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment. New York: Crown. ISBN 0-307-23720-0. 
  3. ^ Hamel (1910) p 370
  4. ^ McLellan, James E; Dorn, Harold (2006). Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, p368. ISBN 0801883598. 
  5. ^ Zinsser, Judith (2006). La Dame d'Esprit: A Biography of Marquise Du Chatelet. New York: Viking, p177. ISBN 0670038008. 
  6. ^ Ancestors of E=mc² Online essay from Public Broadcast Service, Arlington, VA

[edit] External links