Joseph-Louis Lagrange, comte de l’Empire

French mathematician

Also known as: Giuseppe Luigi Lagrangia

Written by

Dirk Jan Struik

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Britannica Editors

History

Joseph-Louis Lagrange, comte de l’Empire (born January 25, 1736, Turin, Sardinia-Piedmont [Italy]—died April 10, 1813, Paris, France) was an Italian French mathematician who made great contributions to number theory and to analytic and celestial mechanics. His most important book, Mécanique analytique (1788; “Analytic Mechanics”), was the basis for all later work in this field. Lagrange was from a well-to-do family of French origin on his father’s side. His father was treasurer to the king of...

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