Emilie du Chatelet

PHYSICIST who translated Newton's "Principia Mathematica" into French
Her translation is still widely read today, and includes nearly 300 pages of her own commentary which helped prove Newton's then controversial theories
Also published her own essays on math and science, as well as the book Institutions de Physique, which explored and posited her own theories for many questions facing physicists of her day
Her 1737 paper on light and heat was the FIRST paper authored by a woman to be published by the French Academy of Sciences
Conducted experiments in her home laboratory
Nicknamed "Venus-Newton" by the King of Prussia
Also known for her partnership and romance with the famous French philosopher Voltaire

Painting by Maurice Quentin de La Tour [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography: Green, Jen. Women in Science. New York: Penguin Random House, 2018. Print.
Smeltzer, Ronald K. “Gabrielle-Emilie Du Chatelet.” Extraordinary Women in Science & Medicine: Four Centuries of Achievement, The Grolier Club, 2013, 29-36.
Yount, Lisa. A to Z of Women in Science and Math. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1999. Print.

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Books by this Awesome Woman

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Selected Philosophical and Scientific Writings

Research

Emilie du Châtelet between Leibniz and Newton

Emilie Du Chatelet: Daring Genius of the Enlightenment

Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment

Seduced by Logic: Émilie Du Châtelet, Mary Somerville and the Newtonian Revolution

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