Despite being excluded from physics at the time, milie du Chtelet was a physicist, translator, and philosopher.
"The Foundations of Physics" was the most influential book written by Du Chtelet. She translated the text of "Principia" into French, where she expanded on the math he provided, and she also completed a translation of his book.
According to one analysis, Du Chtelet was credited with popularizingNewton's ideas in France and beyond, and taking his work on gravity and focusing on what might cause gravity to work on the scale of planets and how such a force might have originated. The scientist depicted in the doodle is du Chtelet.
Women are trailblazing in astronomy and astrophysics.
Her father, an official in the court of the French "Sun King" Louis XIV, supported her education in fields such as Latin literature and math, which DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch DropCatch
The education she received is indicative of her career because of the sexism built into scientific institutions at the time, one historian wrote.
The marquis was a military officer who was often traveling, and he married the Marquis Du Chtelet in 1725.
Around 1740, an engraving of milie du Chtelet was made. The image is from the Kean Collection.
du Chtelet's own work is often overlooked to highlight her affair with a famous French philosopher, who lived with her at the estate for many years. The relationship was an intellectual one, with the two of them sparring over approaches to his ideas and the questions they left behind.
The Acadmie des Sciences, the key scientific institution of France, only allowed men to attend its meetings, which was where Du Chtelet's work was conducted. She worked with her social connections, which included several key figures in math, philosophy and other related fields.
According to one analysis of her career, du Chtelet's mathematical expertise and her use of the work of the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz were two key features of her work. The nature of knowledge and time are topics that are included in the "Foundations of Physics."
du Chtelet describes her work in the introduction. She wrote that physics is an immense building that surpasses the powers of a single person. "Some lay a stone there, while others build whole wings, but all must work on the solid foundations that have been laid for this edifice in the last century, by means of geometry and observations."
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