Du Châtelet-Lomont, Gabrielle Émilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise [key], 1706–49, French mathematician and physicist. Greatly interested in the ideas of Sir Isaac Newton, she helped to propagate them in France and translated his Principia Mathematica, which was published posthumously in 1756. Her companion in her work was Voltaire, who lived at her cháteau at Cirey (Cirey-sur-Blaise), for 15 years before her death.
See biography by J. P. Zinsser (2006); N. Mitford, Voltaire in Love (1958).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Physics: Biographies