Binding: Hardcover
Description: This is the fascinating story of two women who lives were guided by a passion for mathematics and an insatiable curiosity to know and understand the world around them - - the beautiful outrageous milie du Ch telet and the charmingly subversive Mary Somerville. Against great odds milie and Mary taught themselves mathematics and did it so well that they each became a world authority on Newtonian mathematical physics. Seduced by Logic begins with milie du Ch telet an 18th - century French aristocrat intellectual and Voltaire's lover whose true ambition was to be a mathematician. She strove not only to further Newton's ideas in France but to prove that they had French connections including to the work of Descartes whom Newton had read. She translated the great Principia Mathematica into French in what became the accepted French version of Newton's work and was instrumental in bringing Newton's revolutionary opus to a Continental audience. A century later in Scotland Mary Somerville taught herself mathematics and rose from genteel poverty to become a figure of authority on Newtonian physics. Living in France she became acquainted with the work of one of Newton's prot g's Pierre Simon Laplace and translated his six - volume Celestial Mechanics into English. It remained the standard astronomy text for the next century and was considered the most influential work since Principia. Connected by their love for mathematics milie and Mary bring to life a period of remarkable political and scientific change. Combining biography and history of science Robyn Arianrhod's book explores the roles both women played in bringing Newton's Principia to a wider audience and reveals the intimate links between the unfolding Newtonian revolution and the origins of intellectual and political liberty.
Title: Seduced By Logic Emilie Du Chatelet Mary Somerville And The Newtonian Revolution
Author(s): Arianrhod Robyn (Honorary Research Associate School Of Mathematical Sciences Monash University)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Barcode: 9780199931613
Pages: 352 Pages
Publication Date: 10/1/2012
Category: Popular Mathematics