Du Châtelet, born Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil and known as Marquise Du Châtelet-Lomont after her marriage, was a French woman of letters, mathematician, and physicist. For a long time, she was better known as Voltaire’s lover than as the brilliant translator of Isaac Newton’s
Philosophiæ NaturalisPrincipia Mathematica(1687). A multiplication of recent works on Du Châtelet, and particularly the recent two-volume edition of her remaining letters in
La Correspondence d’Émilie Du Châtelet, edited by Ulla Kölving and Andrew Brown, have greatly contributed to the rediscovery of this major figure of the 18th century.
Du Châtelet was born on 17 December 1706 in Paris. She was the fourth child of Louis-Nicolas Le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1648-1728) and Gabrielle-Anne
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Citation: Raynal, Lucille. "Emilie du Châtelet". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 January 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12717, accessed 19 April 2024.]
