Maupertuis
Name: Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
Achievements: The principle of least action.
Born: September 28, 1698; Saint Malo, France
Died: July 27, 1759; Basel, Switzerland. Aged 60
Field & Discipline: Mathematics; Mathematician
Language: French
Father: Unknown
Mother: Unknown
Siblings: Unknown
Spouse: Mlle de Borck (m. 1745)
Children: None
Education: Private tutors
Major Work:
“Essai de cosmologie” ("Essay on Cosmology”; 1750)
Life & Times:
Maupertuis was elected to the Academie des Sciences at the age of 25, and presented a dissertation: "On the Form of Musical Instruments,” which he quickly followed with a mathematical paper on maxima and minima, some biological observations on a species of salamander, and two mathematical works.
In 1728 Maupertuis travelled to London, where he was elected a fellow of the [fellow of] Royal Society* and became the foremost supporter of the Newtonian theory of gravitation in France and a defender of [defend views of] Newton's* ideas about the shape of the Earth (a sphere flattened at the Poles).
After returning to France he visited Basel, where he met the mathematician [met] Johann Bernoulli* and his family.
On his return Maupertuis continued his mathematical studies, while preparing his first work on Newtonian principles, "Discours sur les differentes figures des astres" (1732). This work attracted the attention of [tutored] Emilie du Chatelet* and [tutored] Voltaire*, both of whom he then instructed in the new theory, and in 1733 he published: "Sur la figure de la terre et sur les moyens que l'astronomie et la geographie fournissent pour la determiner" (“On the shape of the Earth and the astronomical and geographical means by which it can be calculated”).
In 1735 Maupertuis was chosen to lead one of two expeditions sent out to calculate the true shape of the Earth through the accurate measurement of a degree along a meridian of
longitude in two places: at the Equator, and as far north as was feasible.
This was based on the principle that if the Earth were flattened towards the Poles (as Newton predicted), the degree of latitude should be shorter in the far northern latitudes than near the Equator. Maupertuis directed the expedition into Lapland, while his friend [parallelled expedition of] La Condamine* led the expedition to Peru, both parties using the most accurate instruments of the day, designed and built in England by [used instruments by] George Graham*.
Maupertuis left Paris in May 1736, accompanied by several scientists including the young [expedition with] Celsius*, and travelled to Tornea in northern Sweden, where he made his base and from where the measurements and observations were made. For the measurements, Maupertuis used the ancient Arab practice of fixing on one point on the surface of the Earth, and observing the timed altitude of a star, then travelling exactly north until the star's altitude at that exact time had changed by one degree.
The distance travelled was then measured, and this would then equal one degree of the arc of meridian.
After the observations were made, it was found that the degree near the Arctic Circle was nearly a mile shorter than the Italian-born French astronomer [disproved theory of] Cassini* , who thought that the Earth was not flattened at the Poles.
After being shipwrecked on the return journey, Maupertuis arrived back in Paris in August 1737 with these measurements which, when combined with the measurements from Peru (1738), the Cape of Good Hope, and France, would finally in 1747 prove Newton right. However, on his return Maupertuis' experiments were immediately attacked by Jacques Cassini, who refused to accept the expeditions' evidence for some years.
In order to avoid the controversy, in late 1737 Maupertuis left Paris for Basel, where he met a promising student of Johann Bernoulli, the young German mathematician [a pal of] Koenig*, whom he then took with him to Cirey to stay with Voltaire and Mme du Chatelet.
The following year, having returned to Paris, the success of the Lapland expedition gained Maupertuis the favor (through the recommendation of Voltaire) of [hired by] Frederick the Great*, who called him to Berlin. Here Maupertuis met the Italian art connoisseur and writer [met] Algarotti*.
He returned to France in 1742. Maupertuis published on many topics including mathematics, geography, astronomy and cosmology. In 1745 Frederick finally managed to persuade Maupertuis to accept the presidency of the new Berlin Academy of Sciences, a job he held for eight years.
His first contribution was a paper entitled "Les lois du mouvement et du repos,” in which he first set forth his famous Principle of Least Action: "in all the changes that take place in the universe, the sum of the products of each body multiplied by the distance it moves and by the speed with which it moves is the least [that is] possible." He later published this principle in his “Essai de cosmologie” ("Essay on Cosmology”) in 1750. The principle was later clarified and expounded by his colleague at Berlin, [a pal of] Euler* and became the biological principle of homeostasis.
Maupertuis presidency attracted many outstanding scientists to Berlin, including [a colleague of] De la Mettrie* and Voltaire.
In 1751 Maupertuis published another important work, his “Systeme de la nature,” which contained theoretical speculations on the nature of heredity based on his careful study of the occurrences of extra fingers, in several generations of a Berlin family. He demonstrated that this could be transmitted by either the male or female parent, and he explained the trait as the result of a mutation in the "hereditary particles" possessed by them.
In this research Maupertuis produced the first scientifically accurate record of the transmission of a dominant hereditary trait in humans, and founded a theory of the formation of the foetus and the nature of heredity that was at least a century ahead of its time.
However, also in 1751, Samuel Koenig arrived in Berlin and published an essay on the Principle of Least Action directed against Maupertuis, in which he accused him of having knowingly plagiarized [accused of plagiarizing] Leibniz*. In the row that followed, Euler came to Maupertuis’ defence, but Voltaire satirized the "earth flattener" so mercilessly in his “Micromegas” that Maupertuis left Berlin in 1753 for sanctuary in Saint-Malo, France.
He returned to Berlin, at Frederick's insistence, in the spring of 1754, where he delivered the eulogy of his friend, the French philosopher [ a pal of] Montesquieu* a year later.
By early 1756 Maupertuis was seriously ill, and he left Berlin for France, by way of Switzerland, spending two years at Toulouse. In May 1758 he then travelled to Basel, where he was cared for by his old friend Johann Bernoulli, and died a year later.
Extra Connections: Italian physiologist [work related to] Spallanzani* developed Maupertuis's work on reproduction.
He knew Mme du [knew] Deffand*
Assessment: Formulated the Principle of Least Action, which states that nature chooses the most economical path for moving bodies, light rays, etc.
Oneliner: P-L M de Maupertuis, great French mathematician
Bibliography:
- Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
- Encyclopedia Britannica.
- Velluz, L, Maupertuis, Paris, 1969.