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Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis: Quick Facts

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Facts

Born September 28, 1698 • Saint-Malo • France
Died July 27, 1759 (aged 60) • Basel • Switzerland
Notable Works “Système de la nature”
Subjects Of Study principle of least action • universe

Photos

Maupertuis, detail of an engraving
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Fred Hoyle
Sir Fred Hoyle
British mathematician and astronomer
Portrait of Pierre Simon Marquis de Laplace wearing formal attire with a sash and star-shaped medal, looking slightly to his left.
Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace
French scientist and mathematician
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Jean Richer
French astronomer
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Charles-Eugène Delaunay
French astronomer
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Jean-Charles de Borda
French mathematician and nautical astronomer
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Claude-Louis Mathieu
French astronomer and mathematician
Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann von Helmholtz
German scientist and philosopher
Galileo
Galileo
Italian natural philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician
Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno
Italian philosopher
Engraving of six astronomers, with Hipparchus seated at center and, from left to right, Galileo, Johannes Hevelius, Tycho Brahe, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Ptolemy standing, each holding scientific instruments.
Hipparchus
Greek astronomer
Engraving portrait of Carl Friedrich Gauss wearing a cap and formal 19th-century clothing, with detailed shading around his face and upper body.
Carl Friedrich Gauss
German mathematician
Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon
English philosopher and educational reformer
How did Ptolemy explain retrograde motion?
Ptolemy
Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer
Edmond Halley
Edmond Halley
British scientist
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Sir William Rowan Hamilton
Irish mathematician and astronomer
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens
Dutch scientist and mathematician
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
German astronomer
Arthur Stanley Eddington.
Arthur Eddington
British scientist
John Herschel
Sir John Herschel, 1st Baronet
English astronomer
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Eudoxus of Cnidus
Greek mathematician and astronomer

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