Mathematician:Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis

Mathematician
French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters.

Credited with having invented the principle of least action.

Nationality
French

History

 * Born: 1698 in Saint Malo, France (precise date unknown, but probably September)
 * Baptised: 28 September 1698 in Saint Malo, France
 * Died: 27 July 1759 in Basel, Switzerland

Theorems and Definitions

 * Maupertuis's Principle

Publications

 * 1732: Figures des astres
 * 1741: Loi du repos des corps (Law of bodies at rest)
 * 1744: Accord de différentes loix de la nature qui avoient jusqu'ici paru incompatibles (Agreement between different laws of Nature that had hitherto seemed incompatible)
 * 1746: Loix du mouvement et du repos (Laws of movement and rest)
 * 1750: Essai de cosmologie (Essay on cosmology)

Also known as
Some sources hyphenate: Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis