Émilie du Châtelet - Wikipedia

French mathematician, physicist, and author (1706–1749)
Émilie du Châtelet
Born
1706-12-17
17 December 1706
Died
10 September 1749
(1749-09-10)
(aged 42)
Occupations
Mathematician, philosopher, physicist, writer
Known for
Relativity
Magnum opus,
Foundations of Physics
(1740, 1742)
Translation of Newton's
Principia
into French
Natural philosophy that combines Newtonian physics with Leibnizian metaphysics
Advocacy of Newtonian physics
Spouse
Marquis Florent-Claude du Chastellet-Lomont
m.
Partner
Voltaire
(1733–1749)
Children
Scientific career
Fields
Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet
French:
[emili
dy
ʃɑtlɛ]
; 17 December 1706 – 10 September 1749) was a French
mathematician
and
physicist
Her most recognized achievement is her philosophical magnum opus,
Institutions de Physique
(Paris, 1740, first edition;
Foundations of Physics
). She then revised the text substantially for a second edition with the slightly modified title
Institutions physiques
(Paris, 1742). It circulated widely, generated heated debates, and was translated into German and Italian in 1743.
The
Institutions
covers a wide range of topics, including the principles of knowledge, the existence of God, hypotheses, space, time, matter and the forces of nature. Several chapters treat Newton's theory of universal gravity and associated phenomena. Later in life, she translated into French, and wrote an extensive commentary on,
Isaac Newton
's
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
The text, published posthumously in 1756, is still considered the standard French translation to this day.
Du Châtelet participated in the famous
vis viva
debate, concerning the best way to measure the force of a body and the best means of thinking about conservation principles. Posthumously, her ideas were represented prominently in the most famous text of the
French Enlightenment
, the
Encyclopédie
of
Denis Diderot
and
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
, first published shortly after du Châtelet's death.
She is also known as the intellectual collaborator with and romantic partner of
Voltaire
. In the two centuries since her death, numerous biographies, books, and plays have been written about her life and work. In the early twenty-first century, her life and ideas have generated renewed interest.
Contribution to philosophy
edit
Du Châtelet wrote a number of significant scientific and philosophical works, including an essay on the nature of fire which was published by the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris,
as well as her
magnum opus
, the
Institutions de physique,
which was also translated into German and Italian. In addition to her original works, Du Châtelet also produced influential translations of major works by authors such as
Bernard Mandeville
and
Isaac Newton
Because of her well-known collaboration and romantic involvement with
Voltaire
that spanned much of her adult life, her accomplishments have often been subsumed under his, and historical accounts have often mentioned her only within the context of Voltaire's life and work during the period of the early
French Enlightenment
. However, the nature of their relationship was collaborative. Voltaire acknowledged that du Châtelet's mathematical expertise was a crucial aid in understanding the technical parts of Newton's
Principia
while writing his popularization of the Newtonian philosophy,
Éléments de la philosophie de Newton
Recently, scholars have taken a renewed interest in du Châtelet, which has resulted in a renewed appreciation of her original contributions. Historical evidence indicates that her work had a very significant influence on the philosophical and scientific conversations of the 1730s and 1740s – in fact, she was famous and respected by the greatest thinkers of her time.
Francesco Algarotti
styled the dialogue of
Il Newtonianismo per le dame
based on conversations he observed between du Châtelet and Voltaire at Cirey.
Du Châtelet corresponded with the renowned mathematicians
Johann II Bernoulli
and
Leonhard Euler
, early developers of calculus. She was also tutored by Bernoulli's prodigy students,
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
and
Alexis Claude Clairaut
Frederick the Great of Prussia
, who re-founded the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, was her great admirer, and corresponded with both Voltaire and du Châtelet regularly. He introduced du Châtelet to Leibniz's philosophy by sending her the works of
Christian Wolff
, and du Châtelet sent him a copy of her
Institutions
Her works were published and republished in Paris, London, and Amsterdam; they were translated into German and Italian; and, they were discussed in the most important scholarly journals of the era, including the
Memoires des Trévoux
, the
Journal des Sçavans
, the
Göttingische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen
and others.
Many of her ideas were represented in various sections of the
Encyclopédie
of Diderot and D'Alembert, and some of the articles in the
Encyclopédie
are a direct copy of her work.
Significant places in the life of Émilie du Châtelet
Émilie du Châtelet was born on 17 December 1706 in
Paris
, the only daughter amongst six children. Three brothers lived to adulthood: René-Alexandre Le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1698–1720), Charles-Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1701–1731) and abbot
Elisabeth-Théodore Le Tonnelier de Breteuil
fr
(1710–1781). Her eldest brother, René-Alexandre, died in 1720, and the next brother, Charles-Auguste, died in 1731. However, her younger brother, Elisabeth-Théodore, lived to a successful old age, becoming an abbot and eventually a bishop. Two other brothers died very young. Du Châtelet also had a half-sister, Michelle, born in 1686, of her father and Anne Bellinzani, an intelligent woman who was interested in astronomy and married to an important Parisian official.
10
Her father was
Louis Nicolas le Tonnelier de Breteuil
(1648–1728), a member of the lesser nobility. At the time of du Châtelet's birth, her father held the position of the Principal Secretary and Introducer of Ambassadors to King
Louis XIV
. He held a weekly
salon
on Thursdays, to which well-respected writers and scientists were invited. Her mother was Gabrielle Anne de Froulay (1670–1740), Baronne de Breteuil and daughter of soldier
Charles de Froulay
fr
(1601–1671).
11
Her paternal grandfather was administrator
Louis Le Tonnelier de Breteuil
fr
(1609–1685). Her paternal uncle was cleric
Claude Le Tonnelier de Breteuil
(1644–1698). Among her cousins was nobleman
François Victor Le Tonnelier de Breteuil
(1686–1743), son of her uncle François Le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1638–1705). Among her nephews was aristocrat, diplomat and statesman
Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil
(1730–1807).
Du Châtelet's education has been the subject of much speculation, and nothing is known with certainty.
Among their acquaintances was
Fontenelle
, the perpetual secretary of the French
Académie des Sciences
. Du Châtelet's father Louis-Nicolas, recognizing her early brilliance, arranged for Fontenelle to visit and talk about astronomy with her when she was 10 years old.
page needed
Her mother, Gabrielle-Anne de Froulay, had been brought up in a convent, which was at that time the predominant educational institution available to French girls and women.
page needed
While some sources believe her mother did not approve of her intelligent daughter, or of her husband's encouragement of Émilie's intellectual curiosity,
page needed
there are also other indications that her mother not only approved of du Châtelet's early education, but actually encouraged her to vigorously question stated fact.
In either case, such encouragement would have been seen as unusual for parents of their time and status. When she was small, her father arranged training for her in physical activities such as
fencing
and
riding
, and as she grew older, he brought tutors to the house for her.
page needed
As a result, 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.
Du Châtelet also liked to dance, was a passable performer on the
harpsichord
, sang opera, and was an amateur actress. As a teenager, short of money for books, she used her mathematical skills to devise highly successful strategies for gambling.
page needed
On 12 June 1725, she married the Marquis Florent-Claude du Chastellet-Lomont (1695–1765).
note 1
Her marriage conferred the title of Marquise du Chastellet.
note 2
Like many marriages among the nobility, theirs was
arranged
. As a wedding gift, her husband was made governor of
Semur-en-Auxois
in
Burgundy
by his father; the recently married couple moved there at the end of September 1725. Du Châtelet was eighteen at the time, her husband thirty-four.
Émilie du Châtelet and the Marquis Florent-Claude du Chastellet-Lomont had three children: Françoise-Gabrielle-Pauline (1726–1754), married in 1743 to Alfonso Carafa, Duca di Montenero (1713–1760),
Louis Marie Florent
(1727–1793), and Victor-Esprit (1733–1734). Victor-Esprit died as an infant in late summer 1734, likely the last Sunday in August. On 4 September 1749 Émilie du Châtelet gave birth to Stanislas-Adélaïde du Châtelet, daughter of
Jean François de Saint-Lambert
. She died as a toddler in
Lunéville
on 6 May 1751.
18
Resumption of studies
edit
After bearing three children, Émilie, Marquise du Châtelet, considered her marital responsibilities fulfilled and reached an agreement with her husband to live separate lives while still maintaining one household.
19
In 1733, aged 26, du Châtelet resumed her mathematical studies. Initially, she was tutored in algebra and calculus by
Moreau de Maupertuis
, a member of the Academy of Sciences; although
mathematics
was not his forte, he had received a solid education from
Johann Bernoulli
, who also taught
Leonhard Euler
. However by 1735 du Châtelet had turned for her mathematical training to
Alexis Clairaut
, a mathematical prodigy known best for
Clairaut's equation
and
Clairaut's theorem
. Du Châtelet resourcefully sought some of France's best tutors and scholars to mentor her in mathematics. On one occasion at the Café Gradot, a place where men frequently gathered for intellectual discussion, she was politely ejected when she attempted to join one of her teachers. Undeterred, she returned and entered after having men's clothing made for her.
20
Relationship with Voltaire
edit
In the frontispiece to
Voltaire
's book on Newton's philosophy, du Châtelet appears as Voltaire's muse, reflecting Newton's heavenly insights down to Voltaire.
Du Châtelet may have met Voltaire in her childhood at one of her father's
salons
; Voltaire himself dates their meeting to 1729, when he returned from his exile in London. However, their friendship developed from May 1733 when she re-entered society after the birth of her third child.
Du Châtelet invited Voltaire to live at her country house at
Cirey
in
Haute-Marne
, northeastern France, and he became her long-time companion. 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. As a literary rather than scientific person, Voltaire implicitly acknowledged her contributions to his 1738
Elements of the Philosophy of Newton
. This was through a poem dedicated to her at the beginning of the text and in the preface, where Voltaire praised her study and contributions.
21
The book's chapters on
optics
show strong similarities with her own
Essai sur l'optique
. She was able to contribute further to the campaign by a laudatory review in the
Journal des savants
22
Sharing a passion for science, Voltaire and du Châtelet collaborated scientifically. They set up a laboratory in du Châtelet's home in Lorraine.
23
In a healthy competition, they both entered the 1738 Paris Academy prize contest on the nature of fire, since du Châtelet disagreed with Voltaire's essay. Although neither of them won, both essays received honourable mention and were published.
24
She thus became the first woman to have a scientific paper published by the Academy.
Social life after living with Voltaire
edit
The
château
of Cirey
Du Châtelet's relationship with Voltaire caused her to give up most of her social life to become more involved with her study in mathematics with the teacher of
Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
. He introduced the ideas of Isaac Newton to her. Letters written by du Châtelet explain how she felt during the transition from Parisian socialite to rural scholar, from "one life to the next".
26
Later pregnancy and death
edit
The château of Lunéville
In May 1748, du Châtelet began an affair with the poet
Jean François de Saint-Lambert
and became pregnant.
27
In a letter to a friend, she confided her fears that she would not survive her pregnancy. On the night of 4 September 1749 she gave birth to a daughter, Stanislas-Adélaïde. Du Châtelet died on 10 September 1749
28
at
Château de Lunéville
29
from a
pulmonary embolism
. She was 42. Her infant daughter died 20 months later.
Scientific research and publications
edit
Criticizing Locke and the debate on
thinking matter
edit
In her writings, du Châtelet criticized
John Locke
's philosophy. She emphasizes the necessity of the
verification
of knowledge through experience: "Locke's idea of the possibility of
thinking matter
is […] abstruse".
31
Her critique on Locke originated in her commentary on Bernard de Mandeville's
The Fable of the Bees
. She resolutely favored universal principles that precondition human knowledge and action, and maintained that this kind of law is innate. Du Châtelet claimed the necessity of a universal presupposition, because if there were no such beginning, all our knowledge is relative. In that way, Du Châtelet rejected Locke's aversion to innate ideas and prior principles. She also reversed Locke's negation of the principle of contradiction, which would constitute the basis of her methodic reflections in the
Institutions
. On the contrary, she affirmed her arguments in favor of the necessity of prior and universal principles. "Two and two could then make as well 4 as 6 if prior principles did not exist."
clarification needed
References by Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis and Julien Offray de La Mettrie to du Châtelet's deliberations on motion, free will,
thinking matter
, numbers, and the way to conduct
metaphysics
are a sign of the importance of her reflections. She rebuts the claim to finding truth by using mathematical laws, and argues against Maupertuis.
Fire, heat, and combustion
edit
Dissertation Sur La Nature et La Propagation du feu
, 1744
In 1737, the Royal Academy of Science in Paris (now
French Academy of Sciences
) announced an essay competition on the question of the nature and propagation of fire, to be awarded the following year.
Voltaire
, who was then working with Du Châtelet at her estate in Cirey, entered the competition. Eventually, Du Châtelet decided to enter herself, though without informing Voltaire, with whom she had significant theoretical disagreements. While neither of them won the competition, their essays were judged to be of sufficient quality to be published in the collections of the Academy, alongside the winning essays. Her
Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu
thus appeared in 1739, the first time the Academy published a work written by a woman. Du Châtelet's essay takes the position that fire is a distinctive type of matter, a common view in the period, and sought to use mechanical theory to understand its properties. For instance, she argued that it is a massless particle, whereas Voltaire had claimed fire had weight. She also speculated that there may be colors in other suns that are not found in the spectrum of sunlight on Earth.
33
Institutions de Physique
edit
Her book
Institutions de Physique
34
("Lessons in Physics") was published in 1740; it was presented as a review of new ideas in science and philosophy to be studied by her 13-year-old son, but it incorporated and sought to reconcile complex ideas from the leading thinkers of the time. The book and subsequent debate contributed to her becoming a member of the
Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna
in 1746. Du Châtelet originally preferred anonymity in her role as the author, because she wished to conceal her gender. Ultimately, however,
Institutions
was convincing to salon-dwelling intellectuals in spite of the commonplace sexism.
Institutions
discussed, refuted, and synthesized many ideas of prominent mathematicians and physicists of the time. In particular, the text is famous for discussing ideas that originated with G. W. Leibniz and Christian Wolff, and for using the principle of sufficient reason often associated with their philosophical work. This main work is equally famous for providing a detailed discussion and evaluation of ideas that originated with Isaac Newton and his followers. That combination is more remarkable than it might seem now, since the ideas of Leibniz and Newton were regarded as fundamentally opposed to one another by most of the major philosophical figures of the eighteenth century.
35
In chapter I, du Châtelet included a description of her rules of reasoning, based largely on Descartes’s principle of contradiction and Leibniz’s principle of sufficient reason. In chapter II, she applied these rules of reasoning to metaphysics, discussing God, space, time, and matter. In chapters III through VI, du Châtelet continued to discuss the role of God and his relationship to his creation. In chapter VII, she broke down the concept of matter into three parts: the macroscopic substance available to sensory perception, the atoms composing that macroscopic material, and an even smaller constituent unit similarly imperceptible to human senses. However, she carefully added that there was no way to know how many levels truly existed.
The remainder of
Institutions
considered more metaphysics and classical mechanics. Du Châtelet discussed the concepts of space and time in a manner more consistent with modern relativity than her contemporaries. She described both space and time in the abstract, as representations of the relationships between coexistent bodies rather than physical substances. This included an acknowledgement that "absolute" place is an idealization and that "relative" place is the only real, measurable quantity. Du Châtelet also presented a thorough explanation of Newton’s laws of motion and their function on earth.
Réponse de Madame la Marquise du Chastelet
, 1741
In 1741, du Châtelet published a book entitled
Réponse de Madame la Marquise du Chastelet, a la lettre que M. de Mairan
D'Ortous de Mairan
, secretary of the Academy of Sciences, had published a set of arguments addressed to her regarding the appropriate mathematical expression for
forces vives
("living forces"). Du Châtelet presented a point-by-point rebuttal of de Mairan's arguments, causing him to withdraw from the controversy.
36
Immanuel Kant
's first publication in 1747, '
Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces
' (
Gedanken zur wahren Schätzung der lebendigen Kräfte
), focused on du Châtelet's pamphlet rebutting the arguments of the secretary of the French Academy of Sciences, Mairan. Kant's opponent,
Johann Augustus Eberhard
, accused Kant of taking ideas from du Châtelet.
37
In his
Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime
, Kant wrote
ad hominem
and sexist critiques of learned women of the time, including Mme. du Châtelet, rather than writing about their work. Kant stated: "A woman who has a head full of Greek, like
Mme. Dacier
, or who conducts disputations about mechanics, like the Marquise du Châtelet might as well also wear a beard; for that might perhaps better express the mien of depth for which they strive."
38
Advocacy of kinetic energy
edit
Although in the early eighteenth century the concepts of force and
momentum
had been long understood, the idea of energy as being transferable between different systems was still in its infancy, and would not be fully resolved until the nineteenth century. It is now accepted that the total mechanical momentum of a system is conserved and that none is lost to friction. Simply put, there is no 'momentum friction', and momentum cannot transfer between different forms, and particularly, there is no 'potential momentum'. In the twentieth century,
Emmy Noether
proved this to be true for all problems where the initial state is
symmetric
in generalized coordinates. E.g., mechanical energy, either kinetic or potential, may be lost to another form, but the total is conserved in time.
Du Châtelet's contribution was the hypothesis of the conservation of total energy, as distinct from momentum. In doing so, she became the first to elucidate the concept of energy as such, and to quantify its relationship to mass and velocity based on her own empirical studies. Inspired by the theories of
Gottfried Leibniz
, she repeated and publicized an experiment originally devised by
Willem 's Gravesande
in which heavy balls were dropped from different heights into a sheet of soft clay. Each ball's
kinetic energy
– as indicated by the quantity of material displaced – was shown to be proportional to the square of the
velocity
: She showed that if two balls were identical except for their mass, they would make the same size indentation in the clay if the quantity
{\displaystyle mv^{2}}
(then called
vis viva
) were the same for each ball.
39
Newton's work assumed the exact conservation of only mechanical momentum. A broad range of mechanical problems in physics are soluble only if energy conservation is included. The collision and scattering of two point masses is one example.
Leonhard Euler
and
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
established a more formal framework for mechanics using the results of du Châtelet.
In 1749, the year of du Châtelet's death, she completed the work regarded as her outstanding achievement: her translation into French, with her commentary, of Newton's
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
(often referred to as simply the
Principia
), including her derivation of the notion of
conservation of energy
from its principles of mechanics.
42
Despite modern misconceptions, Newton's work on his
Principia
was not perfect. Du Châtelet took on the task of not only translating his work from Latin to French, but adding important information to it as well. Her commentary was as essential to her contemporaries as her spreading of Newton's ideas. Du Châtelet's commentary was very extensive, comprising almost two-thirds of volume II of her edition.
43
To undertake a formidable project such as this, du Châtelet prepared to translate the
Principia
by continuing her studies in
analytic geometry
, mastering
calculus
, and reading important works in experimental physics. Her rigorous preparation afforded her commentary a wealth of substantive, accurate information, derived from her own research as well as from the work of other scientists she studied or worked alongside. She was one of only 20 or so people in the 1700s who could understand such advanced math and apply the knowledge to other works. This helped du Châtelet greatly, not only with her work on the
Principia
but also in her other important works like the
Institutions de Physique
44
Du Châtelet made very important corrections in her translation that helped support Newton's theories about the universe. Newton, based on the theory of fluids, suggested that gravitational attraction would cause the poles of the earth to flatten, thus causing the earth to bulge outwards at the
equator
. In
Clairaut
's
Memoire
, which confirmed Newton's hypothesis about the shape of the Earth and gave more accurate approximations, Clairaut discovered a way to determine the shape of the other planets in the
Solar System
. Du Châtelet used Clairaut's proposal that the planets had different
densities
in her commentary to correct Newton's belief that the Earth and the other planets were made of
homogeneous
substances.
45
Du Châtelet used the work of
Daniel Bernoulli
, a Swiss mathematician and physicist, to further explain Newton's theory of the
tides
. This proof depended upon the
three-body problem
which still confounded even the best mathematicians in 18th century Europe. Using Clairaut's hypothesis about the differing of the planets' densities, Bernoulli theorized that the moon was 70 times denser than Newton had believed. Du Châtelet used this discovery in her commentary of the
Principia
, further supporting Newton's theory about the
law of gravitation
45
Published ten years after her death, today du Châtelet's translation of the
Principia
is still the standard translation of the work into French,
42
and remains the only complete rendition in that language. Her translation was so important that it was the only one in any language used by
Newtonian
expert
I. Bernard Cohen
to write his own English version of Newton's
Principia
. Du Châtelet not only used the works of other great scientists to revise Newton's work, but she added her own thoughts and ideas as a scientist in her own right. Her contributions in the French translation made Newton and his ideas look even better in the
scientific community
and around the world, and recognition for this is owed to du Châtelet. This enormous project, along with her
Foundations of Physics
, proved du Châtelet's abilities as a great mathematician.
44
Her translation and commentary of the
Principia
contributed to the completion of the
Scientific Revolution
in France and to its acceptance in Europe.
42
Kant mostly engaged with
Georg Friedrich Meier
’s Excerpts from the Doctrine of Reason (1752) in his logic lectures. It is highly plausible that du Châtelet’s presence was recognized by contemporaries such as Baumgarten, which alludes to a connection that might have broader implications for Kant’s knowledge of du Châtelet. Notably, Meier’s involvement in the publication of
Christine Ziegler
(later Unzer)’s work,
Grundriss einer Weltweisheit für das Frauenzimmer
(A Sketch of a World Wisdom for Women), suggests a potential linkage to du Châtelet’s philosophical ideas. Hence, du Châtelet’s name held certain significance within Meier’s sphere of influence. The immediate translation of the Institutions into German following its release also implies its likely role in paving the philosophical path for Kant’s later endeavors.
Illusions and happiness
edit
In
Discours sur le bonheur
, du Châtelet argues that illusions are an instrument for happiness.
46
To be happy, "one must have freed oneself of prejudice, one must be virtuous, healthy, have tastes and passions, and be susceptible to illusions...".
44
She mentions many things one needs for happiness, but emphasizes the necessity of illusions and that one should not dismiss all illusions. One should not abandon all illusions because they can bestow positivity and hope, which can ameliorate one's well-being. However, du Châtelet also admonishes against trusting all illusions, because many illusions are harmful to oneself.
46
They may cause negativity through a false reality, which can cause disappointment or even limit one’s abilities. This lack of self-awareness from so many illusions may cause one to be self-deceived. She suggests a balance of trusting and rejecting illusions for happiness, so as not to become self-deceived.
46
In
Foundation of Physics
, du Châtelet discusses avoiding error by applying two principles – the
principle of contradiction
and the
principle of sufficient reason
46
Du Châtelet presumed that all knowledge is developed from more fundamental knowledge that relies on infallible knowledge. She states that this infallible fundamental knowledge is most reliable because it is self-explanatory and exists with a small number of conclusions. Her logic and principles are used for an arguably less flawed understanding of
physics
metaphysics
, and
morals
46
The principle of contradiction essentially claims that the thing implying a contradiction is impossible. So, if one does not use the principle of contradiction, one will have errors including the failure to reject a contradiction-causing element. To get from the possible or impossible to the actual or real, the principle of sufficient reason was revised by du Châtelet from
Leibniz's
concept and integrated into science. The principle of sufficient reason suggests that every true thing has a reason for being so, and things without a reason do not exist. In essence, every effect has a cause, so the element in question must have a reasonable cause to be so.
46
In application, du Châtelet proposed that being happy and immoral are
mutually exclusive
. According to du Châtelet, this principle is embedded within the hearts of all individuals, and even wicked individuals have an undeniable consciousness of this contradiction that is grueling.
44
It suggests one cannot be living a happy life while living immorally. So, her suggested happiness requires illusions with a virtuous life. These illusions are naturally given like passions and tastes, and cannot be created. Du Châtelet recommended we maintain the illusions we receive and work to not dismantle the trustworthy illusions, because we cannot get them back.
44
In other words, true happiness is a blending of illusions and morality. If one merely attempts to be moral, one will not obtain the happiness one deeply seeks. If one just strives for the illusions, one will not get the happiness that is genuinely desired. One needs to endeavor in both illusions and happiness to get the sincerest happiness.
44
Other contributions
edit
Development of financial derivatives
edit
Du Châtelet lost the considerable sum for the time of 84,000 francs—some of it borrowed—in one evening at the table at the Court of Fontainebleau, to
card cheats
. To raise the money to pay back her debts, she devised an ingenious financing arrangement similar to modern
derivatives
, whereby she paid tax collectors a fairly low sum for the right to their future earnings (they were allowed to keep a portion of the taxes they collected for the King), and promised to pay the court gamblers part of these future earnings.
Biblical scholarship
edit
Du Châtelet wrote a critical analysis of the entire Bible. A synthesis of her remarks on the
Book of Genesis
was published in English in 1967 by Ira O. Wade of Princeton in his book
Voltaire and Madame du Châtelet: An Essay on Intellectual Activity at Cirey
and a book of her complete notes was published in 2011, in the original French, edited and annotated by Bertram Eugene Schwarzbach.
citation needed
Translation of the
Fable of the Bees
, and other works
edit
Du Châtelet translated
The Fable of the Bees
in a free adaptation. She also wrote works on optics, rational linguistics, and the nature of free will.
citation needed
Support of women's education
edit
In her first independent work, the preface to her translation of the
Fable of the Bees
, du Châtelet argued strongly for
women's education
, particularly a strong secondary education as was available for young men in the French
collèges
. By denying women a good education, she argued, society prevents women from becoming eminent in the arts and sciences.
Portrait by
Marianne Loir
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux
Du Châtelet made a crucial scientific contribution in making Newton's historic work more accessible in a timely, accurate and insightful French translation, augmented by her own original concept of energy conservation.
main-belt minor planet
and a
crater on Venus
have been named in her honor, and she is the subject of three plays:
Legacy of Light
by Karen Zacarías;
Émilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight
by
Lauren Gunderson
and
Urania: the Life of Émilie du Châtelet
by Jyl Bonaguro.
49
The opera
Émilie
by
Kaija Saariaho
is about the last moments of her life.
50
Du Châtelet is often represented in portraits with mathematical iconography, such as holding a pair of
dividers
or a page of geometrical calculations. In the early nineteenth century, a French pamphlet of celebrated women (
Femmes célèbres
) introduced a possibly apocryphal story of her childhood. According to this story, a servant fashioned a doll for her by dressing up wooden dividers as a doll; however, du Châtelet undressed the dividers, and intuiting their original purpose, drew a circle with them.
The Institut Émilie du Châtelet, which was founded in France in 2006, supports "the development and diffusion of research on women, sex, and gender".
52
Since 2016, the French Society of Physics (la Société Française de Physique) has awarded the Émilie Du Châtelet Prize to a physicist or team of researchers for excellence in Physics.
Duke University
also presents an annual Du Châtelet Prize in Philosophy of Physics "for previously unpublished work in philosophy of physics by a graduate student or junior scholar".
53
On December 17, 2021,
Google Doodle
honored du Châtelet.
54
Poet Jessy Randall's 2022 collection
Mathematics for Ladies
includes a poem honoring du Châtelet.
55
Émilie du Châtelet was portrayed by the actress
Hélène de Fougerolles
in the docudrama
Einstein's Big Idea
28
Scientific
Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu
(1st edition, 1739; 2nd edition, 1744)
Institutions de physique
(1st edition, 1740; 2nd edition, 1742)
Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle par feue Madame la Marquise du Châtelet
(1st edition, 1756; 2nd edition, 1759)
Other
Examen de la Genèse
Examen des Livres du Nouveau Testament
Discours sur le bonheur
The
Lomont
suffix indicates the branch of the
du Chastellet
family; another such branch was the
du Chastellet-Clemont
The spelling
Châtelet
(replacing the
by a circumflex over the
) was introduced by
Voltaire
, and has now become standard. (
Andrew, Edward (2006). "Voltaire and his female protectors".
Patrons of enlightenment
. University of Toronto Press. p. 101.
ISBN
978-0-8020-9064-5
Project Vox Team (2020).
"Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, la Marquise Du Châtelet"
Project Vox
Smith, George E. (2022). "Du Châtelet's Commentary on Newton's Principia: an assessment".
Époque Émilienne: Philosophy and Science in the Age of Émilie Du Châtelet (1706–1749)
. Cham: Springer. pp.
255–
309.
Du Châtelet, Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier de.
"Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu"
Gallica
. Bibliothèque nationale de France
. Retrieved
28 February
2025
"Du Châtelet, Voltaire, and the transformation of Mandeville's fable"
wrap.warwick.ca
. Warwick, England: University of Warwick
. Retrieved
Mar 25,
2025
Galaty, David (2022).
Modern European Intellectual History: Individuals, Groupings and Technological Change 1800-2000
. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 8.
ISBN
978-1-350-10539-3
Grosholz, Emily (2013). Arianrhod, Robyn (ed.). "Review of Candles in the Dark: Émilie du Châtelet and Mary Somerville".
The Hudson Review
65
(4):
669–
676.
ISSN
0018-702X
JSTOR
43489293
La vie privée du roi de Prusse von Voltaire, p. 3
The latest research may be found at
Project Vox
, a Duke University research initiative
Zinsser, pp. 16–17; for a quite different account, see Bodanis, pp. 131–134.
Detlefsen, Karen (1 January 2014). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.).
Émilie du Châtelet
(Summer 2014 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
Smith, D. W. "Nouveaux regards sur la brève rencontre entre Mme Du Châtelet et Saint-Lambert." In
The Enterprise of Enlightenment. A Tribute to David Williams from his friends
. Terry Pratt and David McCallam (eds.). Oxford, Berne, etc.: Peter Lang, 2004, pp. 329–343. See also Anne Soprani, ed., Mme Du Châtelet, Lettres d'amour au marquis de Saint-Lambert, Paris, 1997.
"Émilie, Marquise du Châtelet-Laumont (1706–1749) from OSU Dept. of Philosophy (archived)"
. Archived from
the original
on 17 January 2005.
Tsjeng, Zing (2018).
Forgotten Women
. Octopus Books. pp.
156–
159.
ISBN
978-1-78840-042-8
Whaley, Leigh Ann (2003).
Women's History as Scientists: A Guide to the Debates
. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 129.
ISBN
1-57607-230-4
Shank, J. B. (2009).
"Voltaire"
. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Zaretsky, Robert; Scott, John T. (2009).
The Philosophers' Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding
. Yale University Press. p. 60.
ISBN
978-0-300-12193-3
Detlefsen, Karen.
"Émilie du Châtelet"
. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
. Retrieved
2014-06-07
"Emilie Du Châtelet -"
www.projectcontinua.org
. Retrieved
2016-03-31
Zinsser, Judith P. (2007).
Emilie Du Chatelet: Daring Genius of the Enlightenment
. Penguin. p. 1.
ISBN
978-0-670-03800-8
Johnstone, Gary (2005).
Einstein's Big Idea
. WGBH Boston.
ISBN
1593753179
OCLC
61843630
La vie privée du roi de Prusse by Voltaire, p. 58.
quoted in Ruth Hagengruber, "Emilie du Châtelet Between Leibniz and Newton: The Transformation of Metaphysics", in
Emilie du Châtelet between Leibniz and Newton
(ed. Ruth Hagengruber), Springer. p. 12.
Van Tiggelen, Brigitte (2019). "Emilie Du Chatelet and the Nature of Fire: Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu". In
Lykknes, Annette
; Van Tiggelen, Brigitte (eds.).
Women in Their Element: Selected Women's Contributions To The Periodic System
. Singapore: World Scientific.
Du Châtelet, Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1740).
Institutions de physique
. Paris: chez Prault fils.
doi
10.3931/e-rara-3844
Team, Project Vox.
"Du Châtelet (1706–1749)"
Project Vox
. Retrieved
2023-10-20
Smeltzer, Ronald K. (2013).
Extraordinary Women in Science & Medicine: Four Centuries of Achievement
. The Grolier Club.
Hagengruber, Ruth: "Émilie du Châtelet between Leibniz and Newton: The Transformation of Metaphysics", in: Hagengruber, Ruth 2011:
Émilie du Châtelet between Leibniz and Newton
, Springer 1–59, pp. 1 and 23, footnote 4 and 113.
Kant, Immanuel; Frierson, Patrick R.; Guyer, Paul (2011).
Immanuel Kant: observations on the feeling of the beautiful and sublime and other writings
. Cambridge texts in the history of philosophy. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. pp.
36–
37.
ISBN
978-0-521-88412-9
OCLC
693208085
Iltis, Carolyn (December 1973).
"The Leibnizian-Newtonian Debates: Natural Philosophy and Social Psychology"
The British Journal for the History of Science
(4):
343–
377.
doi
10.1017/S000708740001253X
ISSN
0007-0874
Larson, Ron; Robert P. Hostetler; Bruce H. Edwards (2008).
Essential Calculus Early Transcendental Functions
. Richard Stratton. p. 344.
ISBN
978-0-618-87918-2
Zinsser, Judith P. (2001).
"Translating Newton's 'Principia': The Marquise du Châtelet's Revisions and Additions for a French Audience"
Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London
55
(2):
227–
245.
doi
10.1098/rsnr.2001.0140
ISSN
0035-9149
JSTOR
532097
S2CID
145714893
Du Châtelet, Emilie; Zinsser, Judith P.; Bour, Isabelle; Zinsser, Judith P.; Zinsser, Judith P. (2009).
Selected Philosophical and Scientific Writings
. University of Chicago Press.
doi
10.7208/chicago/9780226168081.001.0001
ISBN
978-0-226-16807-4
Cormier, Susan (July 2007).
"La dame d'esprit, a biography of the marquise du chatelet by Judith P. Zinsser"
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management
(3):
469–
470.
doi
10.1002/ieam.5630030324
ISSN
1551-3777
Lascano, Marcy P. (2021).
"Émilie Du Châtelet on Illusions"
Journal of the American Philosophical Association
(1):
1–
19.
doi
10.1017/apa.2019.16
ISSN
2053-4477
S2CID
228843968
Urania, Historical Play by Local Artist, Debuts with Free Gallery Shows
Archived
20 March 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
Libretto of Émilie
Archived
February 26, 2013, at the
Wayback Machine
"Accueil"
Institut Émilie du Châtelet
(in French)
. Retrieved
February 23,
2023
"Du Châtelet Prize | Department of Philosophy"
philosophy.duke.edu
. Retrieved
2020-09-01
Musil, Steven.
"Google Doodle honors French mathematician Émilie du Châtelet"
CNET
. Retrieved
December 17,
2021
Randall, Jessy (2022).
Mathematics for Ladies: Poems on Women in Science
. London: Goldsmiths Press. p. 4.
ISBN
9781913380489
Émilie Du Châtelet (1706-1749)
Project Vox
Zinsser, Judith. 2007.
Mentors, the marquise Du Châtelet and historical memory
O'Connor, John J.;
Robertson, Edmund F.
"Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil Marquise du Châtelet"
MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews
"Émilie du Châtelet", Biographies of Women Mathematicians
Agnes Scott College
Correspondence between Frederick the Great and the Marquise du Châtelet
Digital edition of Trier University Library (French and German text)
Works by Émilie du Châtelet
at
LibriVox
(public domain audiobooks)