Selected Philosophical and Scientific Writings

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Chicago Series

by Émilie du Châtelet, Judith P. Zinsser (Editor), Isabelle Bour (Translator)

Though most historians remember her as the mistress of Voltaire, Emilie Du Châtelet (1706–49) was an accomplished writer in her own right, who published multiple editions of her scientific writings during her lifetime, as well as a translation of Newton’s Principia Mathematica that is still the standard edition of that work in French. Had she been a man, her reputation as a member of the eighteenth-century French intellectual elite would have been assured.

 

In the 1970s, feminist historians of science began the slow work of recovering Du Châtelet’s writings and her contributions to history and philosophy. For this edition, Judith P. Zinsser has selected key sections from Du Châtelet’s published and unpublished works, as well as related correspondence, part of her little-known critique of the Old and New Testaments, and a treatise on happiness that is a refreshingly uncensored piece of autobiography—making all of them available for the first time in English. The resulting volume will recover Châtelet’s place in the pantheon of French letters and culture. 

Genres: Philosophy, Science, History, Nonfiction

456 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet was a French natural philosopher, mathematician, physicist, and author. Her most recognized achievement is her translation of and commentary on Isaac Newton's book Principia containing basic laws of physics. She is also known for having a long liaison avec Voltaire.

Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Châtelet (également écrit du Chastelet, ou du Chastellet) est une femme de lettres, mathématicienne et physicienne française du Siècle des Lumières. Elle est renommée pour sa traduction en français des Principia Mathematica de Newton, qui fait encore autorité aujourd'hui et pour sa longue liaison avec Voltaire.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[صفاء SAFAA]

“It is the privilege of affection to see a friend in all the situations of his soul.”

[Frazier Thomas]

Une femme, une savante et une philosophe. Émilie de Châtelet ,“She does indeed have a love for pompous, for ornaments and luxuries of every sort. She has an equal passion for science…to make such a combination acceptable: all the female pleasures and privileges as well as intellectual equality with men. The twentieth century has hardly achieved universal recognition for such a dual image. The eighteenth century just laughed at it.”

[Christopher]

I found Du Châtelet 's works fascinating. I'm not a physicist or engineer so the physics parts were slow going for me, but they were still interesting the nonetheless. Her "Foundations" also laid out really interesting ideas about the philosophy of science.