Marchioness of Châtelet
Place of Birth: Saint-Jean-en-Greve, in France
Family: Mother: Gabrielle Anne de Froulay
Father: Louis-Nicolas Le Tonnelier de Breteuil
Biography:
This woman who has become known as the Marquise de Chatelet, has been baptized as Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, when she was born on December 17, 1706 in Saint-Jean-en-Greve, in France, during the reign of Louis XIV.
He was born into an important family in the 15th century, which has made fortunes in the judiciary and finances. This woman from her earliest childhood has had the desire to know and made every effort to get it about her family’s fortune. She has received an atypical education for her time, surrounding herself by her parents and simple companions to be more cultured, so much so that at the age of ten she had already read Cicero and studied mathematics and metaphysics; By twelve he spoke English, Italian, Spanish and German and translated texts in Latin and Greek like those of Aristotle and Virgil. He has also studied Descartes, understanding the relationships between metaphysics and science, for this reason he maintained throughout his life the demand for clear and methodical thinking, dominated by reason.
Then, at the age of nineteen, on June 20, 1725, she married Florent Claude, the Marquis de Châtelet-Lamon, a member of a very old Lorraine family, with whom she had three children, two of whom lived, a daughter , Françoise Gabrielle Pauline, and a son, Florent Louis Marie, who was born a year later.
After the birth of her third child, when Émilie was 27 years old, she returned to court. Émilie always loved life in the lavish court of Versailles, enjoying parties, opera and theatrical performances.
Later, it is in the year 1734 that Voltaire moves away from Paris, to flee from justice and takes refuge in the castle of Cirey-Blaise, and the following year Émilie decides to go live with Voltaire. Together they form an indissoluble couple, united by common feelings and interests, which provides emotional stability and the respect of an admired man. Until in 1748 she became pregnant with a girl who would be born on September 2, 1749, when she was sitting in her office and writing about Newton’s theory.
Émilie had read, studied and annotated the works of the scientists of her time, she read in Latin, English, French and asked her bookseller for news from England and Holland. Until in 1737 the Academy of Sciences announced a competition for the best scientific essay on the nature of fire and its propagation; and here both, Émilie and Voltaire, begin to work and do multiple experiments, such as reddening the iron, cooling it, measuring temperatures and weighing.
Due to various tests and others, Émilie decides to also participate independently, working in secret, and without being able to do just experiments, only the Marquis de Châtelet knew about it.
Finally she has written the institutions of physics, a three-volume work published in 1740 that contains one of the most interesting chapters on infinitesimal calculus, and which has been written so that her son could understand physics. The Marchioness of Châtelet has addressed exclusively young people, especially her son, she has studied Descartes, then Leibniz and finally Newton.
Later he has also written an interesting Discourse on happiness, in which he believed that happiness was achieved with good health, the privileges of wealth and position and also with study, setting goals and fighting for them.
Then around 1745 he began to translate Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica from Latin into French, with extensive and valid comments and supplements that greatly facilitated understanding, and during 1747 he was correcting the proofs of the translation, and writing the Commentaries. Until she became pregnant again and work distracted her from her worries, she had been translating and commenting on Newton’s Principia for three years. This writing was precious and essential to her.
Plays
- (1740) Institutions de Physique, Paris, Prault
- (1740) Analyze de la philosophie de Leibniz
- (1741) Réponse à la lettre de Mairan sur la question des forces vives, Bruxelles, Foppens
- (1744) Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu, Paris, Prault
- (1759) Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle de Newton, traduits du latin par Mme
- (1792) Doutes sur les religions révélées, adressées à Voltaire, Paris
- (1806) De l´Existence de Dieu
- (1961) Discours sur le bonheur, introduction and notes by Robert Mauzi, Paris, Les Belles-Lettres
- (1993) Discorso sulla felicità.
- (1996) Speech on happiness and correspondence