Mathematician:Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
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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
Results named for Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis can be found here.
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)
Notable Quotes
- Nature is thrifty in all its actions.
- Quoted in Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut by Marcus du Sautoy ($2021$)
Also known as
Some sources hyphenate: Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
Sources
- John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Maupertuis, Pierre-Louis Moreau de (1698-1759)
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Maupertuis, Pierre-Louis Moreau de (1698-1759)
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Maupertuis, Pierre-Louis Moreau de (1698-1759)
- 2021: Marcus du Sautoy: Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut: Departure: Getting further faster