Emilie Du Chatlet
Born in Paris on December 17, 1706, Emilie
du Chatlet grew up in a household
where the art of courting was the only way
one could recieve a place in society.
During her early childhood, Emilie
began to show great improvement in the area
of academics that soon she was
able to convince her father that she needed
attention. She studied Latin,
Italian and English. She also studied Tasso,
Virgil, Milton and other
great scholars. In spite of her talents in the area of
languages, her true
love was mathematics. Emilie's cleverness was outstanding in
other areas as
well. At the age of nineteen she married a man named Marquis du
Chatelet.
Emilie had conquered the heart of Voltaire, one of most intriguing
and
brilliant scholars of this time. As Voltaire notes "We long employed
all
our attention and powers upon Leibniz and Newton; Mme du Chatelet
attached
herself first to Leibniz, and explained one part of his system in a
book
exceedingly well written, entitled Institutions de physique". However
she
soon abandoned the work of Leibniz and applied herself to the discoveries
of the
great Newton. She was extremely successful in translating his whole
book on the
principals of mathematics into French. The years Emilie spent
with Voltaire at
Cirey were some of the most productive years of her
life. When there were no
guests both of them remained tied to their desks. In
the spring of 1748, Emilie
met and fell in love with the Marquis de
Saint-Lambert, a courtier and very
minor poet. This affair, however, did not
destroy her friendship with Voltaire.
Even when he found out that she was
carrying Saint-Lambert's child, Voltaire was
there to support her. With the
help of Voltaire and Saint-Lambert, she was able
to convince her husband that
it was his child she was carrying. In early
September of 1749, she gave
birth to a baby girl. As Voltaire describes it:
"The little girl arrives
while her mother was at her writing desk,
scribbling some Newtonian theories,
and the newly born baby was placed
temporarily on a quarto volume of
geometry, while her mother gathered together
her papers and was put to bed".
On September 10, 1749 she died suddenly at
the age of 43. As many authors
note, during the course of her short life, Emilie
was a truly unique woman
and scholar. Among her greatest achievements were her
Institutions du
physique and the translation of Newton's Principia, which was
published after
her death along with a "Preface historique" by
Voltaire. Emilie du
Chatelet was one of many women whose contributions have
helped shape the
course of mathematics.