Émilie du ChâteletGabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (emili dy ʃɑtlɛ; 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. Her most recognized achievement is her translation of and commentary on Isaac Newton's 1687 book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica containing basic laws of physics. The translation, published posthumously in 1756, is still considered the standard French translation.
Jean le Rond d'AlembertJean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (dæləmˈbɛər; ʒɑ̃ batist lə ʁɔ̃ dalɑ̃bɛːʁ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the Encyclopédie. D'Alembert's formula for obtaining solutions to the wave equation is named after him. The wave equation is sometimes referred to as d'Alembert's equation, and the fundamental theorem of algebra is named after d'Alembert in French.
NovellaA novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word novella derives from the Italian novella meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts. The Italian term is a feminine of novello, which means new, similarly to the English word news. Merriam-Webster defines a novella as "a work of fiction intermediate in length and complexity between a short story and a novel".
Louis XIVLouis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 1638 1 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi Soleil), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign. Although Louis XIV's France was emblematic of the Age of Absolutism in Europe, the King surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures, such as Bossuet, Colbert, Louvois, Le Brun, Le Nôtre, Lully, Mazarin, Molière, Racine, Turenne, Condé, and Vauban.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de BuffonGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (ʒɔʁʒ lwi ləklɛʁ kɔ̃t də byfɔ̃; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist. He held the position of intendant (director) at the Jardin du Roi, now called the Jardin des plantes. Buffon's works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent French scientists Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier.
BastilleThe Bastille (bæˈstiːl, bastij) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a crowd on 14 July 1789, in the French Revolution, becoming an important symbol for the French Republican movement. It was later demolished and replaced by the Place de la Bastille. The castle was built to defend the eastern approach to the city from potential English attacks during the Hundred Years' War.
EncyclopédistesThe Encyclopédistes (ɑ̃siklɔpedist) (also known in British English as Encyclopaedists, or in U.S. English as Encyclopedists) were members of the Société des gens de lettres, a French writers' society, who contributed to the development of the Encyclopédie from June 1751 to December 1765 under the editors Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert. The composition of the 17 volumes of text and 11 volumes of plates of the Encyclopédie was the work of over 150 authors belonging, in large part, to the intellectual group known as the philosophes.
Enlightened absolutismEnlightened absolutism, also called enlightened despotism, refers to the conduct and policies of European absolute monarchs during the 18th and early 19th centuries who were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, espousing them to enhance their power. The concept originated during the Enlightenment period in the 18th and into the early 19th centuries. An enlightened absolutist is a non-democratic or authoritarian leader who exercises their political power based upon the principles of the Enlightenment.
TreatiseA treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions. A monograph is a treatise on a specialized topic. The word 'treatise' first appeared in the fourteenth century as the Medieval English word tretis, which evolved from the Medieval Latin tractatus and the Latin tractare, meaning to treat or to handle. The works presented here have been identified as influential by scholars on the development of human civilization.
PolemicPolemic (pəˈlɛmɪk) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial topics. A person who writes polemics, or speaks polemically, is called a polemicist. The word derives , . Polemics often concern questions in religion or politics. A polemical style of writing was common in Ancient Greece, as in the writings of the historian Polybius.
