Introduction
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis was born in Saint-Malo in 1698 and died in Basel in 1759. He made several contributions to science and philosophy and could be considered among the most important intellectual figures of the mid-eighteenth century. Parallel to his military career, he studied philosophy and mathematics and was admitted to the Paris Academy at an early age in 1723. In 1728, Maupertuis decided to visit London, an occasion on which he met many Newtonian figures. Similar to Voltaire, and during the same time, he was thus introduced to Newton’s physics and experimental philosophy. On his return, he continued his study of mathematics under the supervision of Johann Bernoulli in Basel. He was admitted as a regular member to the Berlin Academy in 1746; Frederick II named him president the same year. His health declining, he decided to retire to France and then to Basel where he died.
The Shape of the Earth
The paper that made him famous was his Discours sur les...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Breger H (2016) Über den von Samuel König veröffentlichen Brief zum Prinzip der kleinsten Wirkung. In: Li W (ed) Kontinuum, Analysis, Informales. Beiträge zur Mathematik und Philosophie von Leibniz. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, pp 43–56
Cassini J (1723) Traité de la grandeur et de la figure de la terre. Pierre de Coup, Amsterdam
Duchesneau F (2012) La physiologie des Lumières. Empirisme, modèles et théories. Classiques Garnier, Paris
Goldenbaum U (2016) Ein gefälschter Leibnizbrief? Plädoyer fur seine Authentizität. Werhahn Verlag, Hannover
Leduc C (2016) Maupertuis entre force vive et moindre action. In: Breger et al Ad felicitam nostram alienamque. Olms, Hildesheim, pp 325–337
Maupertuis P-LM (1732) Discours sur les différentes figures des astres. In: Maupertuis, Œuvres I. Olms, Hildesheim, pp 79–170
Maupertuis P-LM (1744) Accord de différentes lois de la nature. In: Maupertuis, Œuvres IV. Olms, Hildesheim, pp 2–23
Maupertuis P-LM (1750) Essai de cosmologie. In: Maupertuis, Œuvres I. Olms, Hildesheim, pp 1–78
Shank JB (2008) The Newton wars and the beginning of the French Enlightenment. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Terrall M (2002) The man who flattened the earth. Maupertuis and the sciences in the Enlightenment. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Leduc, C. (2022). Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de. In: Jalobeanu, D., Wolfe, C.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31069-5_44
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31069-5_44
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31067-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31069-5
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities