In the early Eighteenth Century, intellectual themes were not part of women’s duties, and it was frowned upon for women to research and question. That is why it is so extraordinary that Émilie du Châtelet, a French woman, became a mathematician and scientist. Voltaire told the king of Prussia, Frederick the Great, in a letter that Châtelet was “a great man whose only fault was being a woman.”1
In 1706, when Émilie du Châtelet was born, French society had restraints on women that men did not face, such as not having real access to education. In Early Modern France, “the state would control the fathers, the fathers would control the families.”2 However, the Enlightenment Era did bring about enough change in France so that it was possible for Châtelet to become educated and advance in her career.3 She was lucky in the fact that she had an “unusually enlightened” father who gave Châtelet such a good education. She was educated in Latin, Italian, English, Spanish, Greek, Mathematics, Astronomy, Geography, and Poetry. Her mother also encouraged her and reflected a “cultivated background.”4
Châtelet changed and influenced society through her work on mathematics and scientific works. She published an introduction to Newtonian mechanics in 1740, and she even translated Newton’s Principia into French, with comments explaining the difficult mathematics to a popular audience.5 This was significant because not only could more of the population now read the works of Newton, but because of her commentary, more of the population could now understand it. It also introduced Newton into mainstream French scientific life. She went into detail on Newton’s theory of Gravity and she recast many of Newton’s theories and results in the “more powerful and suggestive notation of…. Calculus.”6 This had a great effect on the other scientists and mathematicians of the time. Châtelet’s work helped others to understand the complicated Newtonian system. By exploring Newton’s theses, and writing them for the educated public to read, Châtelet changed France.
Châtelet was married in June 1725 to Florent-Claude, marquis du Châtelet and count of Lomont. However, after only three years with her, he left to pursue a military career and rarely visited her. This is when Châtelet began an affair with Voltaire, another lover of Math and Science.7 In order to get her works published, Châtelet had to have Voltaire co-author them with her, but only his name appeared on the front cover. Emily Grosholz writes that Voltaire had not mastered the mathematics from the Principia, but instead relied on Châtelet to “write the technical sections of the book” he was writing called Elements of Newton’s Philosophy.8 Châtelet also discussed research on the solar system, electricity, and magnetism. She had just finished her translation of the Principia, when she died of “childbirth fever,” from a scandalous pregnancy with Voltaire.9
In her unusual career, Émilie du Châtelet worked with other famed scholars and succeeded in making mathematics a language that many more people could understand. As a woman, she opened the doors for other women to follow in her footsteps and she changed the world with her concepts and understandings of these men’s topics.
- Jerry Bentley, Herbert Ziegler, and Heather Streets-Salter, Traditions and Encounters: A Brief Global History, 4th ed., vol. 2 (McGraw Hill Education, 2016), 390. ↵
- James B. Collins, “The Economic Role of Women in Seventeenth-Century France,” French Historical Studies 16, no. 2 (Fall 1989): 436. ↵
- Ruth Hagengruber, “Emilie Du Châtelet, 1706–1749: Transformer of Metaphysics and Scientist,” The Mathematical Intelligencer 38, no. 4 (December 1, 2016): 1. ↵
- Ruth Hagengruber, “Emilie Du Châtelet, 1706–1749: Transformer of Metaphysics and Scientist,” The Mathematical Intelligencer 38, no. 4 (December 1, 2016): 2. ↵
- Emily Grosholz, “Candles in the Dark: Emilie Du Chatelet and Mary Somerville,” The Hudson Review, no. 4 (2013): 669. ↵
- Emily Grosholz, “Candles in the Dark: Emilie Du Chatelet and Mary Somerville,” The Hudson Review, no. 4 (2013): 669. ↵
- Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 2008, s.v. “Châtelet, Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier De Breteuil, Marquise Du.” ↵
- Ruth Hagengruber, “Emilie Du Châtelet, 1706–1749: Transformer of Metaphysics and Scientist,” The Mathematical Intelligencer 38, no. 4 (December 1, 2016): 2-3. ↵
- Emily Grosholz, “Candles in the Dark: Emilie Du Chatelet and Mary Somerville,” The Hudson Review, no. 4 (2013): 669. ↵
81 comments
Nicolas McKay
Great job once again on your article Bailey. It is incredible that she was able to learn and achieve so much, especially during a time when such knowledge was simply not imparted to women. This article was almost more interesting after reading it for the second time. I still find it a great injustice that she has yet to receive the recommendation that she so clearly deserves.
Marissa Gonzalez
This is a great article recognizing the intelligence of Emilie. This can be a strong article representing gender history because it was not accepted for women to want to research their own questions. However, she was very education and for this reason, allowed women to want to follow her footsteps to better their education. Her studies and intelligence deserve more credit and you did that by writing this article to represent her hard work. Good job!
Ana Gonzalez
Hi Bailey, I enjoy reading about the way in which women rebel against social norms and become more than what is expected of them. In my opinion, you did a great job of explaining how Emilie made great discoveries in science and math and then fearlessly published them. Thank you for your article, it was well organized and fun to read. Emilie certainly contributed to gender history, so I hope you win an award. Goodluck!
Jennifer Pogue
Great article! Emily is definitely an inspiration. I cannot imagine where we would be without all of the women thinkers and doers. I also cannot imagine where we would be if more women were able to be thinkers and doers without being prosecuted! Emily is someone we can all look up to and relate with. She shows us that if we are different (we all are) that we are still valuable and have amazing minds that can help the world progress. Overall great article. I really enjoy your writing style.
Alyssa Vela
I’ve read this article once a little far back in the semester. Prior to reading this article, I had never heard of Émilie Du Châtelet. Her story was very interesting, especially how she had never really gotten the recognition that she deserved. The fact that I had no idea who she was prior to reading the article shows that she still hasn’t received half of the recognition that she deserves but by writing this article you’re slowly but surely getting there. I can understand exactly why you were nominated for “Best in Gender History” You picked a great topic and I’m glad you were able to bring her to light.
Tyler Sleeter
Great article. I have never heard of Emilie de Chatelet, but her work in mathematics is very impressive. It is a shame that she had to publish with Voltaire just to get her work out there, but at least she is getting the recognition she earned. She was clearly an intelligent woman in her own right and it is unfortunate that she was born during a time when women were discouraged from pursuing intellectual activities.
Gabriela Medrano
Her name was interesting; this woman was destined to be important. I did not know of Emilie Du Chatelet so whatever information you provided is what will stick and I am glad you chose this topic because it is a well written article. It is upsetting to see how poorly women of great intellect were treated. Your article does a great job in providing insight to what social norms were like and many of these issues continue to be problems in present day. Also, what an adventurous and quite scandalous love life. Very interesting woman, very interesting article, good job!
Cameron Mays
I like your choice of article because identifying something that is underrepresented and conveying a story about it is incredibly important. To build on this, however, I feel like you didn’t quite talk about why she was underrated. What I mean by this is you failed to connect her life to other mathematicians and why there was a difference. I understand that a lot of it is due to gender, but if I wish you looked at if she was a male, would their be any difference in her popularity, or not?
Johnanthony Hernandez
Interesting article, I had not heard of her before but from what I read it seems that Emilie du Chatelet paved the way for women’s rights in the early twentieth century. I did not know about her works, I had heard of Voltaire and some of his works but it makes me want to go back and look at some of the pieces of work that he did to see if they were also co-written by her. But for a woman to be as if not more educated than a man for her time is amazing that both her parents wanted her to have the same opportunities and from what I can tell, she did up until her untimely death.
Elizabeth Garibay
Great article! Before reading this I had no knowledge of Émilie Du Châtelet. Although I am glad I read this article, her story is so incredible. She was so amazing in so many things like in science and mathematics and also in women’s rights although she never got the recognition that she deserves. I’ve noticed that not getting recognized for hard earned worked happened a lot in the older times. I’m glad I learned about her and her accomplishments, amazing article!