Émilie Du Châtelet

Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, la Marquise Du Châtelet

Émilie Du Châtelet (1706-1749) was a French philosopher, physicist and mathematician. Her work covers various philosophical and scientific disciplines, including epistemology, ethics and politics, natural philosophy, metaphysics, physics, language, and religion. Her philosophy attempts to reconcile Leibnizian and Newtonian physics in her major work, Institutions de Physique (Paris, 1740, first edition), which was circulated widely, generated heated debates, and was republished and translated into several other languages two years of its original publication. She participated in the famous vis viva [Living Forces] debate, concerning the best way to measure the force of a body and the best means of thinking about conservation principles. She attacked the idea that the education of women should be based on the idea of fulfilling and complementing the will of men, criticized society for excluding women, and castigated nationalistic interests in science. Her ideas were represented in the most famous text of the French Enlightenment, the Encyclopédie of Diderot and D’Alembert, first published shortly after her death. Her vast scientific output demonstrates that Du Châtelet was a unique and independent mind that contributed impressively to philosophy and science  (Sources: History of Women Philosophers and Scientists; Project Vox)