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A comprehensive biography of the French mathematician, physicist, philosopher, and co-editor of the Encyclopédie. Learn about his life, achievements, contributions, and legacy in various fields of science and mathematics.
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Jean Le Rond d’Alembert (born November 17, 1717, Paris, France—died October 29, 1783, Paris) was a French mathematician, philosopher, and writer, who achieved fame as a mathematician and scientist before acquiring a considerable reputation as a contributor to and editor of the famous Encyclopédie.
The illegitimate son of a famous hostess, Mme de Tencin, and one of her lovers, the chevalier Destouches-Canon, d’Alembert was abandoned on the steps of the Parisian church of Saint-Jean-le-Rond, from which he derived his Christian name. Although Mme de Tencin never recognized her son, Destouches eventually sought out the child and entrusted him to...
In 1739 he read his first paper to the Academy of Sciences, of which he became a member in 1741. In 1743, at the age of 26, he published his important Traité de dynamique, a fundamental treatise on dynamics containing the famous “d’Alembert’s principle,” which states that Newton’s third law of motion (for every action there is an equal and opposite...
Meanwhile, d’Alembert began an active social life and frequented well-known salons, where he acquired a considerable reputation as a witty conversationalist and mimic. Like his fellow Philosophes—those thinkers, writers, and scientists who believed in the sovereignty of reason and nature (as opposed to authority and revelation) and rebelled against old dogmas and institutions—he turned to the improvement of society. A rationalist thinker in the free-thinking tradition, he opposed religion and stood for tolerance and free discussion; in politics the Philosophes sought a liberal monarchy with an “enlightened” king who would supplant the old aristocracy with a new, intellectual aristocracy. Believing in man’s need to rely on his own powers, they promulgated a new social morality to replace Christian ethics. Science, the only real source of knowledge, had to be popularized for the benefit of the people, and it was in this tradition that he became associated with the Encyclopédie about 1746. When the original idea of a translation into French of Ephraim Chambers’ English Cyclopædia was replaced by that of a new work under the general editorship of the Philosophe Denis Diderot, d’Alembert was made editor of the mathematical and scientific articles. In fact, he not only helped with the general editorship and contributed articles on other subjects but also tried to secure support for the enterprise in influential circles. He wrote the Discours préliminaire that introduced the first volume of the work in 1751. This was a remarkable attempt to present a unified view of contemporary knowledge, tracing the development and interrelationship of its various branches and showing how they formed coherent parts of a single structure; the second section of the Discours was devoted to the intellectual history of Europe from the time of the Renaissance. In 1752 d’Alembert wrote a preface to Volume III, which was a vigorous rejoinder to the Encyclopédie’s critics, while an Éloge de Montesquieu, which served as the preface to Volume V (1755), skillfully but somewhat disingenuously presented Montesquieu as one of the Encyclopédie’s supporters. Montesquieu had, in fact, refused an invitation to write the articles “Democracy” and “Despotism,” and the promised article on “Taste” remained unfinished at his death in 1755.
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In 1756 d’Alembert went to stay with Voltaire at Geneva, where he also collected information for an Encyclopédie article, “Genève,” which praised the doctrines and practices of the Genevan pastors. When it appeared in 1757, it aroused angry protests in Geneva because it affirmed that many of the ministers no longer believed in Christ’s divinity and also advocated (probably at Voltaire’s instigation) the establishment of a theatre. This article prompted Rousseau, who had contributed the articles on music to the Encyclopédie, to argue in his Lettre à d’Alembert sur les spectacles (1758) that the theatre is invariably a corrupting influence. D’Alembert himself replied with an incisive but not unfriendly Lettre à J.-J. Rousseau, citoyen de Genève. Gradually discouraged by the growing difficulties of the enterprise, d’Alembert gave up his share of the editorship at the beginning of 1758, thereafter limiting his commitment to the production of mathematical and scientific articles.
A comprehensive biography of the French mathematician, philosopher, and Encyclopédie contributor. Learn about his life, achievements, works, and influence on science and society.
Oct 29, 2014 · Learn about the life and work of Jean d'Alembert, a French mathematician who was a pioneer in differential equations and mechanics. Find out how he overcame his illegitimate birth, his rivalry with Clairaut, and his involvement in the Encyclopédie.
Jean Le Rond d'Alembert a, parfois écrit « Jean le Rond D'Alembert b, c » ou « Dalembert 1 », voire « Dalambert 2 », est un mathématicien, physicien, philosophe et encyclopédiste français, né le 16 novembre 1717 à Paris où il est mort le 29 octobre 1783.
Learn about the life and achievements of Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, a French mathematician, scientist, philosopher, and writer. He contributed to dynamics, integral calculus, acoustics, and the Encyclopédie.
A comprehensive biography of the French mathematician, physicist and philosopher who co-edited the Encyclopédie and contributed to the wave equation. Learn about his life, works, philosophy and legacy in this online encyclopedia article.
Learn about the life and work of the French philosopher, mathematician, and Encyclopédie editor. Explore his contributions to science, literature, and the Enlightenment movement.
