Émilie du Châtelet(1706 — 1749)
Émilie du Châtelet
France
8 min read
Émilie du Châtelet (1706-1749) est une physicienne et mathématicienne française des Lumières. Elle traduit et commente les Principia Mathematica de Newton, œuvre qui reste la référence française jusqu'au XIXe siècle. Compagne de Voltaire, elle démontre que l'énergie cinétique est proportionnelle au carré de la vitesse.
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« Il faut choisir : aimer les femmes ou les connaître ; il n'y a pas de milieu. »
« Je suis en vérité une femme fort peu ordinaire. »
Key Facts
- 1706 : naissance à Paris dans une famille aristocratique qui encourage son éducation scientifique
- 1733 : début de sa liaison intellectuelle et amoureuse avec Voltaire à Cirey
- 1740 : publication des Institutions de physique, synthèse de Newton et Leibniz
- 1745-1749 : traduction commentée des Principia Mathematica de Newton, publiée posthumément en 1759
- 1749 : mort en couches à 42 ans à la cour de Lunéville
Works & Achievements
An ambitious synthesis seeking to reconcile Newtonian physics with Leibniz's metaphysics. This pedagogical work, intended for her son's education, demonstrates her mastery of the two great scientific systems of her era.
A memoir submitted to the Académie des sciences competition in 1738, in which she puts forward the hypothesis that light and fire are of a different nature. Published by the Académie, it stands as one of the rare female scientific works officially recognized in the 18th century.
A complete translation from Latin accompanied by an algebraic commentary in her own hand, which remains to this day the only complete French translation of Newton's Principia. Voltaire had it published seven years after her death.
A philosophical essay in which she defends a materialist and hedonist conception of happiness grounded in passion, study, and reason. A remarkable text for its candor and modernity, published thirty years after her death.
A theoretical and experimental work in which she argues that the energy of a moving body is proportional to the square of its velocity (mv²), vindicating Leibniz against Newton's supporters. This contribution anticipates the modern concept of kinetic energy.
A critical and philosophical text examining the contradictions of the Holy Scriptures, reflecting her rationalism and the libertine spirit of the Enlightenment. Kept in manuscript form during her lifetime, it illustrates the philosophical dimension of her thought.
Anecdotes
Émilie du Châtelet was so passionate about mathematics that, having been refused entry to the Parisian cafés reserved for men where scholars gathered, she disguised herself as a man to gain access and take part in scientific discussions. This episode illustrates the extraordinary obstacles women had to overcome to access knowledge at that time.
To experimentally verify Leibniz's theory of vis viva, Émilie du Châtelet personally funded experiments involving dropping lead balls into clay from different heights. She thereby demonstrated that kinetic energy is proportional to the square of velocity — a fundamental discovery for modern physics.
Near the end of her life, convinced she would die in childbirth, Émilie du Châtelet worked frenetically to complete her translation of Newton's Principia Mathematica, sometimes writing for twelve hours at a stretch. She finished her manuscript shortly before her death in September 1749, at only 42 years old. Her translation remains to this day the only complete French version of this foundational work.
Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire transformed the Château de Cirey-sur-Blaise into a genuine private scientific laboratory, one of the best-equipped in Europe. They installed optical instruments, a library of over 21,000 volumes, and together conducted experiments on the nature of fire as part of a competition held by the Académie des sciences — an institution that nonetheless refused to admit women.
Émilie du Châtelet anonymously submitted a memoir on the nature of fire to the Académie des sciences competition in 1738, at the same time as Voltaire and without telling him. Although neither won the prize, the Académie, impressed by the quality of her work, nevertheless published both memoirs — an exceptional honour granted to a woman for the first time.
Primary Sources
The ideas we have of extension are so clear and so distinct that it is impossible to confuse them with any other; extension is that which has parts outside of parts, and which can be divided into parts.
Fire is not a particular and elementary substance, but a movement of the insensible parts of bodies, excited and sustained by different causes.
Mr. Newton has demonstrated that if the accelerating force of the Moon toward the Earth is in the inverse ratio of the square of its distance from the center of the Earth, this force is equal to Gravity at the surface of the Earth.
One must begin by telling oneself firmly: I have a mind capable of learning, and I intend to use it. One must not be discouraged by the first difficulties.
I am persuaded that many women are unaware of their own talents due to the failings of their education, and that if they were raised as men are, they would succeed equally in the arts and sciences.
Key Places
Main residence of Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire from 1735 to 1748, transformed into an intellectual hub and private scientific laboratory. It was here that she wrote her Institutions de Physique and conducted her experiments on fire.
Her childhood home on the rue de Bourbon (now rue de Lille), where her father, contrary to the customs of the time, had her given an advanced education in Latin, mathematics, and sciences. This exceptional environment shaped her intellectual vocation.
Residence of the court of King Stanislas of Poland, where du Châtelet stayed in 1748–1749. It was here that she died on 10 September 1749, a few days after giving birth to her fourth child.
Institution from which she was excluded as a woman, despite the recognized quality of her work. She nonetheless submitted her papers there and had her Dissertation sur le feu published there in 1744, an extremely rare honor for a woman.
Famous Parisian café frequented by philosophers and scholars of the Enlightenment. Tradition holds that Émilie disguised herself as a man in order to take part in the scientific discussions that were normally forbidden to her.
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
Institutions de Physique
1740
Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu
1744
Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle (traduction des Principia de Newton)
1756 (posthume)
Discours sur le bonheur
1779 (posthume)
Mémoire sur la nature des forces vives (inédit)
1747
Examen de la Bible
XVIIIe siècle (posthume)
