What did du Châtelet do?

One of her most important contributions to science was her elucidation of the concepts of energy and energy conservation. Following experiments done earlier by Willem ‘s Gravesande, she dropped heavy lead balls into a bed of clay.

Who was du Châtelet?

Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (French pronunciation: [emili dy ʃɑtlɛ] ( listen); 17 December 1706 – 10 September 1749) was a French natural philosopher and mathematician from the early 1730s until her death due to complications during childbirth in 1749.

How did Emilie du Chatelet contribute to the Enlightenment?

Émilie Du Châtelet introduced Newtonian mechanics to the French-speaking world. Judith P. Zinsser reveals all this and more in her detailing of Du Châtelet’s translation of Isaac Newton’s monumental Principia into French in the 1740s. The Marquise’s work is still considered the standard French translation.

Was Emilie du Chatelet a feminist?

With their erudition, their embrace of a deistic worldview, and their inherent declaration of women’s intellectual equality with men, the works of du Châtelet embody an early-modern prototype of feminist ideology and empowerment.

How did Émilie du Châtelet change the world?

Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Châtelet was a French mathematician, physicist, and author during the Age of Enlightenment. Her crowning achievement is considered to be her translation and commentary on Isaac Newton’s work Principia Mathematica.

What were Émilie du Châtelet beliefs?

Du Châtelet grappled with the philosophical relationships between the Cartesian, Leibnizian and Newtonian systems. Unlike Voltaire, she believed that good science needs metaphysical foundations.

What experiment did Châtelet site as proof of the power of squaring?

Emilie du Châtelet She also clarified Leibniz’s ideas about objects in motion. In particular, by analyzing Dutch researcher Willem `sGravesande’s experiment of dropping balls into soft clay, du Châtelet helped champion the idea that squaring an object’s speed determined how much work it could do.

Is Voltaire a feminist?

Voltaire intentionally wrote women to be like men. To show that women and men are basically interchangeable and had the same potential. Voltaire switched gender roles for his characters to show traits shouldn’t be exclusive to either sex.

What was Madame du Châtelet known for?

Does du Châtelet think the cartesians should admit attraction as a hypothesis?

As an example, Mme Du Châtelet refers to the question regarding the nature of attraction: On the one hand the Cartesians do not even accept attraction as a hypothesis. On the other hand, Newtonians declare attraction as an inherent property of matter.

What are Voltaire’s religious views?

Voltaire, in keeping with other Enlightenment thinkers of the era, was a deist — not by faith, according to him, but rather by reason. He looked favorably on religious tolerance, even though he could be severely critical towards Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Does Voltaire believe in equality?

Equality is therefore both the most natural of things, as well as the most unreal. As men go to extremes in everything when they can, this inequality has been exaggerated.

Did the Encyclopédie copy from du Châtelet?

Diderot and D’Alembert, editors of the Encyclopédie, the great symbol of the Enlightenment, credit Du Châtelet in the entry on Newtonianism. Recently, scholars such as Koffi Maglo have identified twelve articles in the Encyclopédie that copy directly from Du Châtelet’s Institutions.

Where can I find du Châtelet’s letters to Maupertuis?

The 1958 Besterman edition of Du Châtelet’s correspondence contains 76 letters that Du Châtelet had sent to Maupertuis between 1734-1744. The letters can also be found in the Electronic Enlightenment proprietary database.

Where can I find Emilie du Chatelet’s selected philosophical and scientific writings?

Emilie Du Châtelet: Selected Philosophical and Scientific Writings. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Note: Contains English translations of selections from the 1740 Paris edition. Selections include Preface, and Chapters 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 11 and 21. Chapter 3 is listed as translated, but is not included in the edition.

Was ist Die Marquise du Chatelet?

Note: The article notes that “Die Marquise Du Châtelet, eine grosse Liebhaberin der Naturlehre, worinnen sie sonst des Newtons grundlagen gefolgt und einige proben den der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Paris geaussert hat unlangst institutions de physique nach den Leibnizianischen und Wolffianischen grundlehren in 8. heraus gegeben.