Emilie Du Chatelet

Emilie du Chatelet


     Emilie du Chatelet grew up in a society where there were not many

education opportunities for women.  She was born in Paris on December 17, 1706

and grew up in a household where marriage was the only way one could improve

their place in society.  During her early childhood, Emilie began to show such

promise in the area of academics that soon she was able to convince her father

that she was a genius who needed attention.  Provided with good education, she

studied and soon mastered Latin, Italian and English.  She also studied Tasso,

Virgil, Milton and other great scholars of the time.

     In spite of her talents in the area of languages, her true love was

mathematics.  Her study in this area was encouraged be a family friend, M. de

Mezieres, who recognized her talent.  Emilie's work in mathematics was rarely

original or as captivating as that of other female mathematicians but it was

substantive.

     At the age of nineteen she married Marquis du Chatelet.  During the

first two years of their marriage, Emilie gave birth to a boy and a girl, and

later at the age of 27 the birth of another son followed.  Neither the children

or her husband deterred her from fully grasping and indulging in the social life

of the court.

     Some of Emilie's most significant work came from the period she spent

with Voltaire, one of the most intriguing and brilliant scholars of this time,

at Cirey-sur-Blaise.  For the two scholars this was a safe and quiet place

distant from the turbulence of Paris and court life.  She started studying the

works of Leibniz but she then started to analyze the discoveries of Newton. She

was extremely success in translating his whole book on the principals of

mathematics into French.  She also added to this book an "Algebraical

Commentary" which very few general readers understood.

     To realize the significance of her work for future French scholars it is

important to understand the social context within which she lived and worked.

One of Emilie's most significant tutors was Pierre Louis de Maupertuis, a renown

mathematician and astronomer of the time.  The struggle for success did not come

easy even for Emilie.  As a student her curiosity and unrelentedness caused her

to place impossible demands on her t
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