Pierre Louis Maupertuis
French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters (1698–1759)
Who was Pierre Louis Maupertuis?
Pierre Louis Maupertuis lived from July 17, 1698 to July 27, 1759. Maupertuis was born at Saint-Malo, France, to a moderately wealthy family of merchant-corsairs. His father, Renė, had been involved in a number of enterprises that were central to the monarchy so that he thrived socially and politically. The son was educated in mathematics by a private tutor, Nicolas Guisnée, and upon completing his formal education his father secured him a largely honorific cavalry commission. Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (; French: [mopɛʁtɥi]; 1698 – 27 July 1759) was a French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters. Maupertuis made an expedition to Lapland to determine the shape of the Earth. He is often credited with having discovered the principle of least action – a version of which is known as Maupertuis's principle – which he expressed as an integral equation that describes the path followed by a physical system.
His work in natural history is interesting in relation to modern science since he touched on aspects of heredity and the struggle for life.
Historical significance
He became the director of the Académie des Sciences and the first president of the Prussian Academy of Science, at the invitation of Frederick the Great.
