Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil Marquise du Châtelet

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Born: 17 Dec 1706 in Paris, France
Died: 10 Sept 1749 in Lunéville, France

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Mme du Châtelet's Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu was submitted for the Academy prize of 1744. It did not win, the prize was won by Euler, but it was published by the Academy.

Mme du Châtelet's major work was a translation of Newton's Principia . Begun in 1745 a part was published in 1756 under the direction of Clairaut. Voltaire wrote the preface. The complete work appeared in 1759 and was for many years the only translation of the Principia into French.

Mme du Châtelet died in child birth at the court of the Duke of Lorraine. Her husband, Voltaire and her lover at that time, the poet Jean-Francois de Saint-Lambert, were all present at her death.

References (9 books/articles)

References elsewhere in this archive:

Passage Châtelet is in the 17th Arrondissement in Paris and Place Châtelet is in the 1 and 4 Arrondissements. You can see a list of Paris streets named after mathematicians in our archive.

There is a Crater du Chatelet on Venus. You can see a list of planetary features named after mathematicians.

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Agnes Scott College, USA